#oc: kilaran

[roguetelepaths]

Anaru: Yeah, so, I was headed down a really dark path when I was a kid, and at one point I think Odo was probably like 'wait, why have I arrested this thirteen year old kid four times this month?' and decided I needed a helping hand... I owe him a lot, man. I really do.

Kilaran: It really is incredible, how swiftly the Founders' guidance can turn chaos to order, isn't it.

Anaru:

[imaginethevorta]

so I got this Vorta OC named Kilaran who exists in the Far Places Universe, though some time after Tayli. He's in Starfleet, on loan from the Dominion as part of a peacemaking initiative about ten years after the war. And I think a lot about how when he gets to the ship he's posted on, no one trusts him at ALL. "The Vorta are naturally duplicitous, they'll pretend to be aligned with your interest but then sell you to their masters behind the curtain for one corn chip" you know. But he wasn't designed for diplomacy, he was designed for field command and probably couldn't tell a decent lie to save his life. He's friendly enough, but he doesn't have the interest in winning people over or gaining influence that everyone assumes he does. Honestly he'd prefer if the vast majority of people left him alone so he could establish a routine and have it interrupted as little as possible. what I'm saying is Autistic Kilaran Real

~ @enbygesserit (sorry I just had to tell y'all about my new baby boy)

Love hearing about Vorta ocs, thanks for sharing!

[roguetelepaths]

☄️ please!

From your OC’s perspective, write a short paragraph about their average day.

Gonna do this for a Vorta OC I haven't used these to talk about yet. He's kind of on the backburner, but I still love him and think he's an excellent boy. Basically he's my deconstruction of the "let's put a Vorta in Starfleet" concept I've seen a lot of other people play straight— he's on loan to Starfleet as part of a diplomatic initiative, he's not happy there, and (at least at the start) he just wants to go back to Dominion space where everything makes sense. He's a little asshole but he's my little asshole and I hope you care him as much as I do.

Also "short paragraph" lol. lmao. this turned into a ficlet so I'm putting it under a readmore.

☄️ Kilaran

Life as the sole test subject of a "grand diplomatic experiment" was difficult, and definitely not worth it by any stretch of the imagination. Mostly, since his assignment to the USS Eudaimonia, he'd kept to himself. He'd even, by some divine providence, managed to carve out something approaching a routine among the hustle and bustle of Starfleet life.

Wake up, 0500. Get dressed and ready for the day. Perform the morning devotional ritual. He prays for the strength and wisdom to align his actions with the will of the Gods, offering the work he will do today in fulfillment of his orders as tribute. It isn't the work he was built to do. Distantly, he wonders if that makes a difference to anyone but him.

Breakfast. He used to take it alone, at his own table in the mess hall, until that horribly pushy Bajoran lieutenant started on spending it with him. Anaru Elen. She's the most equipped to handle your situation, the captain told him, she worked closely with Odo on Deep Space 9 for a time, so she has a bit more of a nuanced view of the Dominion than most. Well, he has to wonder exactly why the Founder known as Odo decided to avail himself of her services. She's talkative, prone to emotional outbursts, and, by Dominion standards at least, highly undisciplined. He tolerates her, though, because he can do nothing else. The lieutenant orders something new from the replicator every day. He always orders the same nutrition shake, which he's sure is supposed to taste like something, but it's lost on him.

The work is repetitive. They put him on communications, mistakenly assuming that every Vorta was a diplomat. In truth, most of those he interacted with before being assigned to the Eudaimonia were Jem'Hadar, and one didn't exactly need good people skills for field supervisor duty. He does his job as well as he can, though, difficult as it is. Lack of training is no excuse for lack of effort, and the sooner he can show results, the sooner he can go back where he belongs.

Lunch and leisure time come after a while, and he never knows how to feel about it. The lack of structure confuses and repulses him. That Bajoran woman insists, again, on taking her break with him. She wants to know how he's "settling in." He asks her why she wants to know. She says she can tell that he's lonely, and thinks he needs at least one person on the ship who gets him. (She doesn't get him, and if he has anything to say about it, she never will.)

He would never question the edicts of the Founders, but he's certainly questioning what he did to deserve this.

Before returning to his work, he dashes off to send a report back home. Of course, it goes through Starfleet Intelligence's surveillance network before a word of it reaches the Founders. He doesn't begrudge them their suspicion— he's a servant of the Dominion before he's anything else, and suspicion is probably more natural to him than it is to the Federation— but somehow, it feels different than the type of surveillance he's used to from his own.

The rest of the day breezes by. He finishes his shift, then there's dinner and downtime (again, with unsolicited companionship from Anaru Elen, his personal burden to bear), then his private evening devotions, and then, finally, deep and dreamless rest.

He rises the next morning to a memorandum on his PADD. Oh, no.

Your recent reports have made it clear that I must remind you, once again, that this is a diplomatic initiative. To that end, it is imperative that you ingratiate yourself with the crew as much as possible. I gave you this task because I believe in your ability to extend yourself past what you were made for. Prove me right.

He exhales quietly, and sends a quick response. As you wish, Founder.

[roguetelepaths]

“Prime Directive? Who’s she? We don’t know her here”

[roguetelepaths]

also wanna write some stuff about Dominion War era Kilaran doing field supervisor stuff so watching Rocks and Shoals for inspo

[roguetelepaths]

-Kilaran, after being assigned to the USS Eudaimonia

@soulsuckingisaacnewton​

[roguetelepaths]

Me: Oh I wonder how Kilaran would react in a Rocks and Shoals type situation, because he's very different from Keevan but also has the same duties

Me: oh, apparently the answer is "he would mercy-kill his troops and then himself", never mind

[roguetelepaths]

I had a dream last night that someone sent me actual hate mail about my endgame for Kilaran and how fucked up it is that I don’t plan to have him end up completely liberated from the Founders’ control, except

I literally. I literally do plan to do that? That’s been my desired outcome from the beginning. His endgame is literally “leave the Dominion and go live on Bajor with his polycule” lmao I don’t think you can get more liberated than that.

I mean, if I WAS planning on having Kilaran just go back to the Dominion at the end of everything, I can see why it would create a Broken Base among my dream!audience (which is substantially bigger than my real audience, apparently, especially if it’s literally sending me hate mail over decisions I’m making in content I haven’t even publicly dropped yet) but it’s definitely not the thing I’m planning to do and never was. Just so we’re all clear on that. 

[roguetelepaths]

💐 for zara 🌿for tayli and 🌻 for kilaran

💐 - Zara

How does your OC handle being unwell or forced to rest in bed? Who cares for them and in what ways? Does your OC enjoy being doted on or are they a terrible patient? Reversed: is your OC good at taking care of others who are ill or in need?

I'm having a lot of fun trying to come up with a situation that would require Zara to need bed rest, lol. What would that even mean? Let's say, for argument's sake, though, that there was a situation that required them to be immobile in humanoid form for a while. It would probably be Tayli caring for them, if she's around. She would insist on it (and probably know much more about what to do with an unwell Changeling than she thinks she does, due to that personal attendant conditioning she doesn't know she has.) Much to Zara's chagrin, probably, because Tayli insisting on things is something that Zara never really knows what the hell to do with. Though because it's Zara and they're pretty laid-back by Changeling standards, I'm sure the "stop obsessing over me I'm FINE" to "actually this is okay you can keep doing it" pipeline is real with them.

On the reverse, with Tayli being sick or injured and needing to be cared for by Zara, though? Oh man. Zara would do their absolute best and pull out all the stops to help their friend (think "oh no you sneezed you must be dying"), but still. That's a recipe for some serious angst, seeing as Tayli, well. She doesn't exactly put a lot of value on her own life in relation to theirs. She's working on it, but still. That's not gonna budge easily.

🌿 - Tayli

What way does your OC show that they care without using words? What way do others show your OC that they’re cared about without using speech?

Generally, by listening. This is partially her authentic method of expressing care, and partially a conditioned tendency towards attentive service. But the more distance she puts between herself and the expectations that have been placed on her in the past, the more she comes to realize that the ability to make others feel understood just by listening to them is a gift that she has, regardless of who those others are or how she's been taught that she should relate to them.

As far as ways others would show care without using verbal speech, oh my gods, someone PLEASE give this girl a hug. You just KNOW she's touch starved as all hell and would cling to you like a bush baby if you gave her even the slightest bit of physical affection. This goes for, like, most Vorta but Tayli especially just. she needs a hug, man.

🌻 - Kilaran

What little things do they notice about people or the world around them that make them happy? What tiny little treasures do they find in the normal every day that makes the world seem a little brighter for them?

At first, Kilaran sees no need for joy or excitement. He was created for one purpose, and he finds contentment and comfort in the niche he was designed to fill. But as time goes on, particularly after joining the crew of the USS Eudaimonia, he begins to find little things that make his day a little brighter. Finding replicator recipes in the mess hall that he likes to texture stim with. Collecting things that seem like useless junk to anyone else, but are priceless to him. Stealing a few moments off-duty to read and exercise the imagination he was never allowed to develop. Even the arguments about religion and theology that he gets into with Anaru help anchor him and remind him that he's broadening his view of the universe, at first because that was his assignment and he wants to do well, later for the sake of his own burgeoning curiosity.