Shayhiloosh

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Shayhiloosh the Arborian
Name:	Shayhiloosh
Rank:	http://www.startrekfreedom.com/images/pips1/tealensign.jpg
Gender:	Asexual
Species:	Arborian
Age:	Youthful at 100 human years
Position:	ACSO
Ship:	USS Hades
Status:	Active: Tribuo Senatus

Character Info

Character's Full Name: Shayhiloosh

Species: Arborian

Gender: Asexual

Age: Youthful at 100 human years

Place of Birth: Arboria Prime

Height: 7-7.2 feet depending on current foliage

Weight: 175 pounds

Eyes: 3 Blue eyes on vine-like stalks that can extend approximately 1.5 feet in any direction from the inside of main branch crotch.

Skin: Brown black

Blood Color: Golden Amber

Hair: None but leaf color is silvery green

Physical Description

Tough, durable, rubbery, skin, slightly wrinkled brown black skin similar to that that found on dolphins or elephants covers Shayhiloosh’s body and limbs. Despite hir’s treelike characteristics, s/he does not have ‘bark’ as does a tree. S/he has many root legs, which join together at a ‘trunk’ in an area approximately equivalent to the middle of the thigh on the average human. Hir upper part is composed of branches, with round, silvery ‘leaves’ with tiny jagged looking edges, the ends of which come to a point, similar to those of a quaking asp, that shake and rustle when speaking. Hir main trunk is roughly 2.5 feet. Shayhiloosh has 5 main branches that project from hir’s trunk at about 90- 135 degrees when at rest. Hir three blue, almost human-looking eyes are extended from his main upper branch crotch, about five feet from hir roots, on thick vine-like stalks about 2.5 feet long. S/he has three self-grown, hand-like appendages in hir upper branches. These appear as twigs up above hir main arms, and consist of three flexible “fingers” with a flexible opposing twig which serves as a thumb.

Family and Background

Shayhiloosh was raised in a nursery or young ‘grove’ of sorts, where he was planted in rich loamy soil. Rooting hirself in soil at night and looking at the starts at night after hir studies were done for the day became a favorite pastime.

Hir was one of the few Arborians that enjoyed talking and interacting with Federation ambassadors and other off world visitors. After hir species was contacted and a Federation Embassy established, Shayhiloosh was chosen by the Arborian elders to go out and gain experience within the context of the Federation, to encourage understanding and gain perspective on other species. Enrolling in Starfleet seemed the most obvious way to learn and gain experience with other cultures, and to explore and see what else was in the universe.

History, Education and Skills

As for many Arborians, Shayhiloosh was taught by local elders. His people have a natural predilection for understanding of the ecological sciences. After completing the highest level of education his people could offer, he was immediately enrolled in Starfleet, where he majored in Science with an emphasis on xenobotany. Hir also enjoyed studying stellar cartography and astronomy.

Pre-Starfleet History: In hir youth, as a part of hir training, Shayhiloosh spent a decade or so traveling extensively within Arboria’s solar system along with one of hir elders, old Hannahlish, taking surveys of the system’s sun and analyzing solar activity. During that time, Shayhiloosh conducted many experiments to study the effects of sunspot activity upon various species of plant growth. S/he also helped to set up the Starfleet Embassy on Arboria, where hir specialized in security.

Medical History

Species: Shayhiloosh and other Arborians have both plant and animal characteristics. Chemically and physiologically Arborians resemble yeast with chlorophyll. Overall height at full growth can reach approximately 7 feet tall, but an individual might look a bit taller if in proper full leaf. Individual Arborian’s ‘leaves’ can be found in a variety of shapes, and the appearance of one individual compared to another is often far more pronounced than in humans. They can, if they wish, grow extra appendages, but it takes time and energy, and most do not consider the effort necessary.

Arborians need rich loamy soil with plenty of mineral content. They ‘eat’ through the root tips on their ‘feet’, which can open or close via large pores. Without adequate species-appropriate nourishment, they may potentially suffer from a variety of health problems, including leaf wilt, leaf loss, swelling of joints, general withering of the body, and loss of vision. They require a few hours of exposure to UV rays in which to rest, root, eat, and conduct photosynthesis each day. Natural sunlight is preferable, but ship-generated UV rays suffice under normal conditions. A horticultural or botanical area would be perfect quarters for an Arborian.

Personal: Nothing of note. Shayhiloosh is normally in good general health as per his species. S/he did take the time to grow extra branches, as s/he felt that two were not enough to do the specialized tasks required by hir service in Starfleet, but that more than three extra hands were too many. S/he can use hir strong prehensile roots to grip or pick up things as needed.

Starfleet History

The first day of Shayhiloosh’s first assignment was a major catastrophe. The USS Boudicca, to which s/he had been assigned, was attacked and boarded by enemy marines from the USS Exeter. Shayhiloosh attempted to protect hirself and hir collogues in sickbay, only to discover belatedly that these Marines were provided with “superman” BDU body armor. S/he was severely injured in the attempt, and was subsequently deposited on Starbase Geneva to receive care. When hir condition was assessed, s/he was sent to Cait/Ferasa to recover, due to the excellent quality of medical care available there, and the need for a naturally sunlit environment in which to heal.

While in recovery from hir service on the USS Boudicca on the planet Ferasa, homeworld of the Caitian species, Shayhiloosh was illegally cloned by a secret facility underneath a large famous hospital. This was done without hir consent or knowledge. Shayhiloosh discovered the clone during rescue operations of victims that were being illegally experimented on and detained against their will in the secret facility. Shayhiloosh could not abandon the clone and took it with hir back to the USS Hades.

The Arborian clone may have been modified, but exactly what those modifications may have entailed is unknown. The offspring would have dies in struggling to Awaken, but Shayhiloosh brought it to Geneva and an Arborian nurse was summoned to monitor it's development and growth, both prior and during its Awakening. After the Civil War ended, Shayhiloosh was grateful to be part of hir Child's Awakening experience on Geneva. Once the Child Shureshlee was ready and strong enough to travel, the two Arborians were transferred back to the Hades.

Shureshlee's mental growth has been abnormally fast and the Child shows genius level intelligence. Shayhiloosh has been concerned that this may lead to something bad but so far Shureshlee's health is very good and the Offspring has so far made Shayhiloosh swell with pride.

Skills

Due to hir off-planet experience, Shayhiloosh has become more adaptable than is the norm for hir species. S/he is quite clever when it comes to meeting hir special needs in a shipboard environment.

Hand-to-root-and-branch combat is hir specialty. S/he is not especially martially oriented, but when threatened at close range, s/he is a formidable opponent, if properly prepared for the nature of the attack. S/he can carry several weapons at once in hir multiple limbs, and use them all simultaneously. Also, considering both the training s/he received as a security consultant while setting up the Starfleet embassy on hir home planet, together with hir three flexible eyestalks, s/he is very difficult to take by surprise.

Other Information

Hobbies: Shayhiloosh enjoys singing, Arborian styles of dance, and rooting hirself in interesting places.

General Notes: Correct pronoun usage for an androgynous species such as Shayhiloosh is as follows: s/he as subject (S/he is walking), ‘hir’ (pronounced as heer) as the possessive, and ‘hirself’ (pronounced heerself). Examples below.

Speech: Arborians use their leaf-like bladders in a breathy, breezy almost whispery voice which rustles.

Hearing: Arborians can hear by detecting vibrations through touch and through the air. They can detect and generate tones and sounds outside human hearing range, including subsonic and ultrasonic ranges. These can be used to communicate long distances. No ears are visible.

Sitting: Though Shayhiloosh can bend easily and curve hir trunk, hir natural stance is to remain upright. Hir preferred method of ‘sitting’ is to gracefully spread out hir roots, in a manner like what humans call doing the splits. After sinking down in this fashion, Shayhiloosh then curls up hir ‘feet’ or root ‘legs’ in a nice neat circle around hir lower trunk. S/he finds this preferable to bending hir trunk, as would be required to sit in a manner common to humanoid species. Hir is then short enough to access tables, consoles and any other equipment built primarily for humanoids. For better stability, if there is room, Shayhiloosh can and will spread hir roots out as far as they will go, regardless of the surface.

Psychology: Arborians have a strong code of ethics, and will not cheat, steal, murder, or lie. They will act to defend themselves in instances of life threatening danger, and are dangerous when provoked. They can prevaricate and omit the truth when the situation deems necessary for secretiveness and discretion. They tend to be resistant to change.

Shayhiloosh personally feels that most species are a bit on the small side, and have far too few limbs. S/he is also unusually open-minded, as Arborians go.

Special Traits: When at rest, usually for at least a few hours each daylight cycle when Arborians are able to conduct photosynthesis, they share a type of group telepathy. Arborians are able to access something they refer to as the Dreamplane. For the uninitiated, the Dreamplane can be a dangerous place as besides mirroring whatever happens in reality, it can manifest people’s sorrow, fear, joy, and anger.

For more about Shayhiloosh's adventures please see Shayhiloosh's Story.

To Join in and Play

Feel free to look around the site at http://www.StarTrekFreedom.com and sign up if you'd like to get involved. From there you go to the Academy where you have the chance to hone your skills and understand how to post your character's replies. After graduation you are assigned to a ship and can expect more email from all of the player characters aboard your ship, usually about eight to twelve people. No dice or stats are involved. To stay in the game you must post a minimum of twice per week. You tell a narrative story from your character's point of view and contribute your small part to a larger ongoing storyline. You are expected to stick to your character's description once you have your bio for him/her/it filled out, but can add to it and create your own Wikipedia file on yourself the player and the character you portray.

Credits

Completely made up by herbalsheila with a nudge or two from my spouse Jim who plays Jon Nayati on the USS Hades and GrannyGM who has played Brianna Frazier.