Combat Chief Rhiana ir-Thieurrull t'Fveirrolh

Rhiana is tall and of slender, athletic build. Her jet-black hair is short and often looks as if she combed through it with her hand. She has regular facial features with the distinct raised eyebrows and pointy ears of her people.

Rhiana is an officer. She has grown up with drill and strict rules and this has shaped how she sees everything. After having been betrayal by someone she trusted, she is now looking for who she truly is.

- Stubborn
- Soldier who has never truly experienced normal, civilian life
- Languages: while she grew up speaking both, Romulan and Vulcan, she has not practised Vulcan in the last twenty years and has forgotten most if not all of it. It might be possible to reactivate what she learned, but so far, she has not seen the need to do so. In the past few months, she has tried to learn Federation Standard, but has not advanced much. She can do some small-talk and understands some orders, but she heavily relies on her universal translator.

Rhiana has become disillusioned with her life and is currently looking for a good way to spend her remaining 100+ years. Unless the Empire catches up with her, then her life expectancy will be considerably shorter.

Llaekh-ae'rl - Translated as 'laughing murder', this is a common Romulan martial art with (near-) deadly moves executed in a fluid, elegant style. Rhiana has been trained in this art from her early childhood and has become an expert in it.

Long-distance running - An avid runner, Rhiana is able to cover long distances rather easily.

Swimming - Rhiana may not be the fastest swimmer, but she can swim for hours and has perfect swim strokes.

For years, decades even, there had been voices in the Romulan Star Empire who suggested that re-unification with Vulcan could be a good idea. They were quiet voices. The suggestions uttered only when they were certain to be able to fully trust the other person. They raised their children with these convictions. Went so far as to teach them Vulcan and even attempted the mental discipline Vulcans found so important.

Whenever the Tal Shiar learned about any such traitor, arrests were made. Followed by executions. Quietly. Not to turn the public's attention to these subversive elements. Officially, there were no dissidents. No re-unification movement. But the movement could never be fully extinguished.

Rhiana ir-Thieurrull t'Fveirrolh parents, Raffak and Ekkhae, were Unificationists. It ran in their families. They managed to survive by keeping out of sight, by keeping their opinions to themselves and living quiet lives on Thieurrull, a remote colony world Raffak’s family originated from. It was much safer there than on ch’Rihan - Romulus - where Ekkhae was from and where they traditionally should have lived. In the Terran year of 2344, Rhiana was born there and grew up bilingually: speaking Vulcan in the safety of their house and Rihannsu - Romulan - outside. Like with all Romulan children, the need for general secrecy was installed into her from an early age.

Over the years, Raffak and Ekkhae became more and more discontented with the political situation in the Empire. They truly believed that re-unification was the only way forward and began to become more outspoken about it. To avoid repercussions, they became nomads: travelling on freighters and independent passenger transports and never staying for long in any one place.

Rhiana was three years old when her nomad life began. For several years, everything was fine. She was a quiet child who easily entertained herself. But the older she became, the more she realised that other children did not travel as much as she did. That they had actual homes. That they could go to school. Make friends. Discussions with her parents followed. They kept saying that this was her life. Their activities, which became more and more open and thus dangerous, required that they keep moving. More than once, the Tal Shiar had been too close for comfort. Once, they narrowly escaped when an underground meeting place had been betrayed. Travelling around was for all of their safety.

That worked for a while, but by the time Rhiana was ten, she became more and more dissatisfied and began to look for ways to escape. The opportunity presented itself on a small, independent space station in the Neutral Zone. She slipped off the ship and hid on the station. Her parents only noticed her absence after the ship’s departure. By the time they had managed to return, Rhiana was gone.

She had been picked up by station security and handed over to a passing Romulan diplomat and her entourage. While Rhiana initially refused to tell them her name, she did not withhold the information for very long. When they realised who she was, or rather, who her parents were, the little runaway suddenly became a precious commodity. She was brought back into the Empire, to ch’Rihan even, and was placed in an Imperial boarding school. Unbeknownst to her, Rhiana became the subject of hostage-fostering, an age-old Romulan tradition.

Life at the boarding school was harsh and demanding. Not only for her, but for all the children there. They were raised to become, one day, loyal soldiers and citizens of the Empire and that began with strict drill, full days of lessons and physical training. Rhiana was treated like all the other children and she took to this new life surprisingly quickly. She might have been far away from her parents, but she learned and saw so many new things every day that she barely had time to miss them.

At the same time, the Tal Shiar made certain that news of Rhiana’s life at school reached her parents. They understood the implications.
For some time, they all but ceased their illegal activities. No more secret meetings. No more revolutionary messages and pamphlets.

Rhiana flourished. Despite the extreme and planned competition between the children, she made friends, excelled at school and quickly showed talent for llaekh-ae'rl, a Romulan martial art. Further aptitude testing revealed that she would be best suited for a career in security and tactical and she was streamed accordingly.

Years went by. Raffak and Ekkhae kept silent. Or at least they managed to keep what they were doing away from the Tal Shiar. They knew that the Tal Shiar would not kill their daughter. But they did not want to endanger her either. Rhiana was still oblivious to all of that. She barely thought of her parents. If she did, it was with unease, for after years of civics lessons, she knew that they were criminals. That they should be arrested and executed for their crimes. Re-unification with Vulcan was not only impossible, it was a danger to the future of the Empire.

After her graduation near the top of the class, Rhiana began the five-year mandatory military service along with her entire generation of fellow twenty-year-olds. The conscripts were mostly given menial tasks and used for free labour, but it also allowed them to receive on-the-job training in the specialties they had learned throughout their school life. Previous grades did not mean anything here. Everybody started at the bottom. But Rhiana distinguished herself and soon enough received more interesting tasks and was given more opportunities to show her talents. Even if these opportunities only consisted of running a martial arts class for fellow conscripts. Or of brig duty with an unruly crewman in a cell for a few hours.

Near the end of the five years, when it became time for the conscripts to decide whether to continue in the Galae, the Imperial Navy, or return to civilian life, it came almost without surprise when Rhiana received an invitation to attend Phi’lasasam, the Imperial Navy Academy. Refusal was not an option. Not that anyone would ever dare to refuse the prestige that came with being an officer in the Galae. The two-year programme was challenging, but once again, Rhiana took to it immediately and with success. Once more, she was among the best in her stream. But she could hardly believe it when she received her first posting: junior security and tactical officer aboard the ChR Arreinye’Aidoann, the First Fleet’s flagship. For someone like her who, as she was painfully aware, did not have any political connections nor came from one of the major Houses, this was a dream come true.

From the moment she set foot aboard, she swore to herself that she would be the most loyal, most dedicated officer they had ever seen.

TBC

2344 - Born
2349 - Homeschooled
2354 - Begins formal schooling
2364 - Mandatory Military Service
2369 - Phi'lasasam, Security & Tactical track
2371 - Graduates with rank of Erein (Ensign);
assigned to ChR Arreinye'Aidoann as junior security & tactical officer
2373 - Promoted to erei'Arrain (Lieutenant JG)
2377 - Promoted to Arrain (Lieutenant)
2378 - Deserts
2380 - Joins the Dutchman