Ky'Laria

Vital Statistics
Starfleet SN: ZK-001-055
Gender: Kyrmora (from Kuras “kyreli” (other/different) and “mora” (sex/gender); literally “other gender”)
Date of Birth: Unspecified date, 1E -22 (“First Era, Year -22” - Official record); 443 BCE (Terran Gregorian calendar)
Place of Birth: Khi-Kalostera (Old Kalostera), Rimikuras

Physical Summary
Eyes: Grey (reflective/”silver”); micro-compound
Hair: Sea/viridian green; jaw-length bob or shoulder-length flip (https://coolors.co/export/png/4d8e6f-254f3a-468965-88e2b5-0f3020)
Skin: Light/azure blue; flushes toward light purple (https://coolors.co/export/png/1e90ff-6495ed-4169e1-7b68ee-934ff2)
Apparent Age (approx.): 30 (Human); 55-70 (Vulcan/Romulan)
Build: Feminine; taut, statuesque
Features:
- Soft ridges on nasal cartilage
- Fangs!
- Spots - head to hip height (matching hair colour)

Education & Training
Academy Class: 2389
- Basic Starfleet Officer Qualification (Non-Member Species Exchange Program)
- Undergraduate Degree in Science. Majors: Biochemistry; Physics
- Master’s Degree of Science in Astrophysics

Ky’Laria is one of sixty-three Kuras inducted into Starfleet Academy in 2385 under the Federation Non-Member Species Training Plan. Quickly obtaining general Science Officer qualification with dual specialization in biochemistry and general physics, she also completed graduate studies in astrophysics before leaving the Academy with her officer’s commission. With this level of Starfleet qualification combined with the wealth of experience from her impressive longevity, Ky’Laria can perform excellently across many starship science sub-departments. She believes that knowledge withheld is knowledge wasted, and will not hesitate to offer her knowledge or opinion even outside of her prescribed fields of work. Indeed, with many diverse careers in her past - some of them more than once - Ky’Laria will venture without hesitation outside the purview of her department as a whole, should the situation be so dire.

Species Information - Kuras
Pronunciation: ku-RAS; koo-RAHs (bonus points for a bit of a ‘flick’ on the R)
Plural Name: Kuras
Demonym: Kuras
Height: 1.9-2.15 m (6‘3”-7‘1”)
Weight: 92-111 kg (203-244 lb)
Eyes: Humanoid size and shape; semi-reflective, metallic appearance
Skin: Cool, light/medium blues, tinted by magenta/light purples; quite homogeneous
Hair: Variable; Reds, blues, purples, greys common; green extremely rare; only grows on the head (also not on the face)
Spots: Keratinous plates, irregular shape, 5-25 mm in size, matching hair colour; in sharply defined formations bilaterally on the face (as ‘eyebrows;’ around orbital bones; along the jawline); neck; forked at shoulders and continuing bilaterally on front and back of the torso, to the lower back and hip height

The Kuras are a species of humanoids native to the planet Rimikuras, with the same general body structure as the other predominant humanoid species of the galaxy, visually bearing the closest resemblance to humans and other mammalian humanoids; they have slightly above average stature among their fellow races. Their homeworld is the seat of power of the unassumingly-named Interstellar Union, a small but densely populated entity past the far side of Romulan space. After establishing hegemony over a few sectors unusually teeming with sapient life, the Kuras considered their appetite for conquest sated some centuries ago, and began a gradual transformation of their Empire into a more inclusive, semi-federative republic. Member species, formerly simple subjects, enjoy full citizenship and nominally equal rights and opportunity.

Mostly homogeneous in appearance, all Kuras possess blue skin in a narrow range of shades, and vary only slightly in height, body mass, and composition across their entire population. While there is some variation in facial structure and appearance among members of the species, the most distinctive individual appearance marker is the colour of their cranial hair and cutaneous spots, as well as the patterns of the latter. Kuras possess impressive physical strength - comparable to Klingons of similar stature - and fearsome speed and agility, especially in environments with less than their native world’s 1.3 g surface gravity. This predisposition to preternatural power and physique became a central pillar of their highly martial culture, which upholds and celebrates their sharp hunting instinct and predatory nature.

Not just by strength and speed, the Kuras’ every feature begets a purpose-made apex predator. Compound eyes gather a dizzying amount of visual information, allowing vision spanning from the near ultraviolet into the deep infrared. The elegant arrangements of spots on the face, neck, back, and torso are semi-flexible, keratin-like plates which contain and protect an array of sensory organs - like a personal lateral sensor array, to the starship-minded. The upper lateral incisors - second, top, front teeth - are pointed like canines and very sharp; a full centimetre longer than their neighbours; and can extend a centimetre more with a sharp click. These fangs can, in a bite, inject a cocktail of sedative, anticoagulant venom into some unfortunate prey, fogging the mind and numbing the body. Fortunately for the victim, the venom doesn’t inflict lasting damage, and perhaps surprisingly, neither does the Kuras, for all her predatory instinct and powerful natural tools. By definition, a Kuras is a micropredator - specifically, a hematophage.

Personality & Interactions - Ky’Laria
(aka “Help! My New Crewmate Is A Vampire, What Do I Do?”)

Put the garlic back in the replicator, for starters; Ky’Laria is not here for you. She’s decided that she would probably like garlic if there were any reason for her to eat it. Like any other person from any other species who travel the stars, Ky’Laria is perfectly capable of managing her nutrition in ways that do not terrorize her crewmates. That isn’t to say that she may not ask about a consensual nibble, should one’s (ahem) working relationship reach a certain point. Frankly, however, if she were interested in taking her meals with/from some all-natural (even intelligent) life forms, she would not have come to Starfleet to do it; in her home space, it’s part of the culture.

Since some are no doubt wondering, the “stranded by a shuttle crash on a desolate planet” timer is about seven days. After that, Ky’Laria will probably be counting your heartbeats from ten metres’ distance. Look on the bright side - you’ll get to eat her share of the emergency rations!

The somewhat harsh truth of it all, though, is that Ky’Laria has lived a couple of dozen lifetimes by most humanoids’ standards and after that long, it takes a lot to be seen even as interesting enough out of the crowd to be worth her time. She seldom harbours actual dislike for anyone, but her culture fosters a certain attitude of superiority toward anything that is not Kuras. Her age and especially her experience in interacting with other species has thankfully tempered this attitude somewhat; she will be a lot easier to get along with than the younger of her kind. She will generally present as stoic and somewhat aloof at first, though a certain mischievous streak underlies this exterior.

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