#young elim does NOT CARE to hear about how Great cardassia was/is

[fauvester]

young elim's childhood infection also affected his hearing (which is ALREADY bad because, you know, cardassians.) he's finally started to wear the hearing aids julian got for him. whenever garak starts getting on his ass about proper cardassian culture he turns them off

[conducting-cardassia]

Character Development                                                        

BASICS

Full Name: Ekor Laset Nicknames: none Sex/Gender: Male/male

Sexuality: Ekor is bisexual, although he leans towards men a little more than towards women. He has had relationships with people of either sex, both purely physical and emotional.

Right or Left: He’s ambidextrous, though not by birth but rather through training.

Age: tending towards middle age (in his main timeframe, which takes part during the culmination of the Dominion War)

Height: tall-ish.

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Black

Distinguishing Marks: There are multiple small marks visible on his hands from using them to play instruments: calluses that would not occur from normal, everyday use, the odd scar from a cut handling repair tools, etc.

Paragraph Of Physical Traits: Perhaps his most distinguishing physical trait is Ekor’s hearing: it’s very astute for Cardassians, although it doesn’t rival Vulcan, and much less Ferengi hearing. Other than that: Ekor is on the lean side of Cardassian male beauty, owing perhaps to the fact that when his workload is high, he tends to forget to eat or sleep. He keeps fit, although not excessively so. When he wants to challenge himself, he likes to run barefoot in the desert. His build is lithe and wiry rather than heavily muscled.

FAMILY/RELIGION

Parents: Ekor was his parents’ only child. Ekor’s parents were unable to conceive more children after his birth due to complications. It’s perhaps for this reason that his parents are especially dedicated to his welfare, if strict. (I don’t know what their names are yet)

Siblings: None.

Marital Status: Ekor is bonded, though not in the exact modern sense, to Elim Garak. They share a somewhat obscure traditional bond that isn’t widely in practice throughout the Union anymore, but that uniquely suits their needs.

Significant Other/s: Current: Elim Garak. Past: several, including a Vulcan woman he was apprenticed to after finishing his studies at the Cardassian State Conservatoire for Music.

Children: None.

Other Relatives: Ekor has cousins on both his mother’s and his father’s side. Due to the fact that his musical hearing was discovered when he was very young, Ekor started his education at an exceptionally young age and barely remembers some of his cousins -- a state of affairs that he is ashamed of and hopes to remedy some day, once the War is over.

Pets: He was too young when he started school, and the Conservatoire doesn’t allow pets. There’s one other, but mentioning that here would be playing rather fast and loose with the definition of pet.

Friends: Ekor is friends with (and deeply indebted to) a Cardassian woman named Orma Kovok; she became his sponsor for the Conservatoire, and during his time there, remained one of his few allies. During Ekor’s stay, she became instrumental in him finding his true purpose, although at the time, he was very hurt by her action. Later, hindsight being what it is, Ekor asked her forgiveness for shunning her in the wake of her wake-up call. She is now an old woman and long since retired from her duties as an Instructor of Hebitian counterpoint at the Conservatoire.

Ekor often meets new people due to his professional duties as conductor of the Cardassian State Orchestra; sometimes, friendships evolve from such opportunities, but he mostly keeps a tight circle of friends, a somewhat wider circle of appreciated acquaintances, and a great many political alliances.

Enemies: He certainly has competitors, but actual enemies are rather rare. At one point during his years at the Conservatoire, an instructor almost got him expelled from the school for reasons he still does not fully comprehend. Ekor was allowed to finish his studies, but has been wary of that man ever since.

Ethnicity: Cardassian.

Religion: None, although he is educated about the Hebitian religions, since most ancient music used to be religiously informed.

Beliefs: Ekor believes that loyalty to the homeworld is one of the most important services a person can render. He does not necessarily agree with all the State decisions, but he isn’t radical enough to become subversive. Not until Cardassian policies become such that he cannot in good conscience serve the State while still serving Cardassia. The discovery of the fact that he does not equate the two, and that there is a part of him that overrules State sanction in favour of a more idealistic view of Cardassia came at a time of great turmoil and forced Ekor to reexamine a lot of the tenets he has held.

Superstitions: None.

Diction/Accent: None. In fact due to his musical hearing, learning the melody and diction of languages in general is easy for Ekor to achieve. Grammar is a different matter altogether.

SCHOOL/WORK/HOME

Education: Cardassian State Conservatoire for Music

Degree(s): Conducting, Vulcan Ka’athyra, History of music

Occupation: Conductor of the Cardassian State Orchestra; when the Union formed the alliance with the Dominion under Dukat, the Orchestra was disbanded and its people reallocated to more essential duties. When that happened, Ekor was outside of Cardassian space, giving a series of solo concerts on the Ka’athyra. He did not return to Cardassia upon hearing the news, but rather looked to find ways of serving her from outside her bounds.

Own or Rent: Ekor owns a small house with a garden in Lakarian’or. Due to his often being absent, the garden tends to become overgrown, which gives Ekor a guilty conscience, but there’s nothing he can do about it, living alone.

Living Space: Varying: while on tour, Ekor stays in State guest housing facilities, spare rooms available from musical institutions, or even mobile homes. His house in Lakarian is modest but tasteful, not excessive and ultimately very practical

Work Space: Varying. Concerts usually take place in concert halls or Council facilities, although they do take Ekor off-world and often even out of Cardassian space. Other than that, Ekor often works in musical archives to revive ancient musical practices, travels a lot to review instrument makers’ progress on recreating forgotten sounds, and of course there is a lot of political work that must also be done.

Main Mode of Transport: whatever gets him where he needs to be. Cardassians are an eminently practically oriented people, and Ekor is no exception to that rule.

PSYCHOLOGY

Fears: To have to choose between Cardassia and another love. To harm Cardassia under the best intentions.

Secrets: He has them. Every Cardassian has them.

IQ: Ekor’s is an analytic mind with a love for music underlaying it all. He’s intelligent and it usually shows, for instance by the way he speaks.

Eating Habits: Ekor comes from poverty, and sometimes this shows in his eating habits. He never wastes food, even sometimes consuming it when it has already gone off. Replicators of course take care of that, but it’s a habit one doesn’t easily leave behind. Other than that, Ekor often tends to forget to eat, especially when he’s engrossed in something work related. That’s why he loses weight when there’s much work on his plate.

Food Preferences: He likes typical Cardassian foods, although he did once overeat on yamok sauce as a kid, when he came to the Conservatoire. That experience made him lose his taste for that somewhat. Ekor does have a bit of a sweet tooth though, something his classmates used to tease him mercilessly about.

Sleeping Habits: Nothing particularly peculiar, except that he tends to forget to sleep when there’s much work to do. It’s only lately that he has occasionally had trouble sleeping at all, with some nightmares disturbing his sleep. He never quite remembers them the next day, but he always wakes up feeling guilty.

Book Preferences: I don’t actually know. He’s well-read in the classics, though; the Cardassian school system is very thorough.

Music Preferences: ... where do I even begin. Since Ekor is a musician by profession, his tastes are, in a word, refined. He does not simply prefer some music over other kinds, but actually understands what makes music good. Of course that is in part a matter of personal taste, but there are objective measures that distinguish interesting music from the mundane, the ever-same and the trivial. He tends to come across as a bit of a snob about it sometimes, at least where his own musical taste is concerned -- but he honestly loves seeing people enjoy music; even music he doesn’t like himself. In that, he’s very indiscriminate. If pressed, Ekor would state that he is particularly fond of Hebitian music; this preference was formed early in his years at the Conservatoire, as his sponsor and instructor of Hebitian counterpoint, Orma Kovok encouraged him to study it.

Groups or Alone: Alone.

Leader or Follower: Due to his profession, Ekor has very rarely been a follower -- the closest he came to that was his apprenticeship, but even then, he was learning from a better, more experienced leader. One of the most formative experiences for Ekor was when he first instructed a fellow student on how to play a the piece he was practicing at the time. Ekor’s style developed from there, became more exact and distinctly his; and it informs his leadership as well. Being a conductor -- that is, essentially, leading a bunch of often complicated, head-strong musicians to become a whole, Ekor is used to mastering challenging situations as a leader.

Planner or Spontaneous: He tends to be a planner, but sometimes can be ridiculously impulsive; this has recently led to getting to know Elim Garak, which Ekor considers one of the very best things to have happened to him.

Journal: None, but he writes letters.

Hobbies: Sauna, and running in order to keep fit.

How Do They Relax: A good hot stone and or hot bath, massages, being served a nice meal, being sexually pleasured.

What Excites Them: Creating an engaging musical interpretation, studying musical scores, a submissive partner.

What Stresses Them: Being unable to return home for prolonged periods of time, the process of applying for licence to perform, being uncertain how to be of use to Cardassia.

Pet Peeves: Indecisiveness, unreliableness.

Prejudices: Ekor subconsciously shares the belief that Cardassians are superior to most other species, although he wouldn’t claim that as a rule; it’s just something of a doctrine, and while Ekor appreciates foreign musics a lot -- one of his degrees is in Vulcan music -- and has learned that other species are just as able to contribute to the universe, it is still something that he wasn’t able to rid himself of entirely.

Attitudes: dominant, sometimes domineering, ambitious, hard-working, kind, flirtatious, sensitive, irritable, analytic, understanding, unforgiving (this rarely happens, but when it does it’s final), exacting, caring, protective, assertive, meticulous, committed, domestic.

Obsessions: None that I’m aware of

Addictions: None.

Ambitions: Have Cardassia’s music recognised more widely throughout the alpha quadrant, reviving as much of her forgotten musical history as possible, constantly improving his own skill, taking care of those he holds dear; also has a deep seated wish to have a good home.

ASTROLOGY/PHISIOLOGY

Birth Date: I don’t know... the vri’keth of mapoc, Stardate... no, honestly, I really don’t know. I’m skipping most of this whole section. Western Astrological Sign: n/a. Traits Associated with Western Sign: n/a Chinese Zodiac Sign: n/a Traits Associated with Chinese Sign: n/a. Handwriting: n/a

Sexual History: Ekor has had several partners of either sex, althoug there are a couple more men than women among them. He prefers to be dominant in his sexual encounters, but occasionally he likes to switch. When he was younger and still learning the ropes (so to speak), especially during his apprenticeship on Vulcan, he used to be submissive to his partner, a middle aged Vulcan woman named T’Paran (she was nearing 90 years at the time, which counts as middle aged, as Vulcans get much older than Cardassians). He doesn’t see dominance and submission as strictly confined to sex and/or play, however, but rather as a general mindset to adhere to. This has caused conflict with some partners in the past. Ekor has a lot of sexual appetite, in general. He’s adventurous, likes to try out things and push limits, including his own.

General Health: I think it’s unremarkable, I guess? Healthy, Cardassian male.

Allergies: scattle fish.

OTHER

Halloween Costumes: wouldn’t be caught dead in one. Especially not one of the “sexy something specific to Terra” ones. He’d have to lose more than a bet to be put into one of those. Such as, his mind.

Talents: Listening. No seriously, I mean it. Ekor has very fine hearing that enables him to discern nuances that others simply miss. Through that, he often knows a lot more about people than they want to let on. That fact has not gone unnoticed lately, either.

Politics: Ekor has some sympathy for the neo Hebitian movement -- although he isn’t part of it, having been under public scrutiny for most of his life. Generally speaking, Ekor is rather on the progressive side, but not extremely so. As an artist, he is generally allowed a little more political leeway than most Cardassian citizens, as the government has acknowledged that some limited form of freedom can be good for creativity. Ekor walks that line very closely. Furthermore, during the Dominion War, he is very critical, though not openly so, of Dukat’s decision. Ekor believes that it was perhaps the greatest mistake in recent Cardassian history.

Flaws: Keeps a lot to himself, to the point of being closed off, extreme competitiveness and ambition, territoriality, jealousy, tends to streamline his more daring thoughts, sentiment, underlying Cardassian supremacist mindset.

Strengths: Extremely loyal to those dear to him, dependability, protectiveness (will make sacrifices to protect others), emotional stability, self knowledge, owns up to mistakes, hard-working, openness to other perspectives.

Drugs/Alcohol: not important enough to him to write about. He does have a fondness for liveta oil, which is a regulated substance on Cardassia, but non-addictive.

Passwords: he uses them, but I won’t tell where he keeps them.

Prized Possessions: As his parents were quite poor, Ekor prizes all his possessions, to the point of appearing obsessive. There is one in particular that he holds dearer than anything else he owns, but this is not the place to name that special one.

Time and Place:

Time: Mostly during the end/culmination of the Dominion War so far, although some stuff takes place in the past (e.g., meeting Corat Damar after a concert at the Akleen Concert Hall in the Tarlak sector of Cardassia City).

Places:

Deep Space 9 (although he sometimes thinks of it as Terok Nor still) for periods of a couple of hours up to several days

Lakarian -- Ekor’s home is there (and I know what happens to Lakarian, and I’m truly sorry because that’s going to be a very hard blow)

Undisclosed location in the alpha quadrant -- that’s where he is working during the Cardassian/Dominion alliance

East Torr -- He was born there, and his parents still live there.

Special Places: Cardassia. Simple as that.

Special Memories: Being discovered as a talent, learning the Ka’athyra, the first time he has conducted a musician through a piece, the first time he fell in love, Vulcan, creating his bond with Elim Garak. (nicked from @guldamargotdabooty without permission)