Lieutenant Narud Mon

Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		Kriosian Empathic Metamorph (EM)
Age		30 (Born 2373)

Physical Appearance

Height		175 cm (5’9”)
Weight		52 kg (115 lbs)
Hair Color		White roots, but the rest is dyed black. Occasionally, small white strands become visible if he misses a spot.
Eye Color		Homochromatic; Right: Blue, Left: Green.
Physical Description		Narud possesses the traditional spots of his people along both sides of his face, neck, and down the sides of his spine, continuing over his legs. His spots are noticeably darker than average—a rare but natural variation. His homochromatic eyes and white hair are also uncommon genetic expressions within Kriosian culture. He is of average, fit build. Distinguishing Marks: A collection of spots on his neck naturally forms the shape of a Terran love heart. At age 16, this mark was painted over with the official "EM" brand by Kriosian authorities. Narud resents the mark, viewing it as a brand of a future he refuses to accept, though it remains visible above his Starfleet uniform collar.

Family

Father		Dural Mon (Kriosian freighter captain)
Mother		Mariel Mon (Valtese teacher)

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Parental Note: They financially supported his early escape but remain emotionally distant due to his refusal to accept his traditional EM role. Native: Kriosian and Valtese dialects. Fluencies: Federation Standard, Klingon (learned during his childhood among Klingon merchants and medics). Narud presents a cold, hyper-logical, and isolated exterior, vastly preferring the predictable hum of a warp core over the chaotic emotional needs of a crew. Deep down, he is driven by a profound fear of losing his autonomy to his biological imperative. His transition from Medical to Engineering was a survival mechanism: machines follow the laws of physics and cannot force an empathic imprint. Post-Frontier Day, his emotional walls are thicker than ever, relying heavily on his custom-built mechanical neural-dampener to keep the galaxy's emotions at bay.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Strengths: Multidisciplinary Mind: Holds advanced degrees in Medicine, Xenobiology, and Warp Mechanics. Crisis Management: His dampener allows him to stay completely analytical during emergencies, effectively ignoring panic to focus on structural survival. Empathic Insight (Suppressed): When his dampener is lowered, he can read a room's emotional state instantly, allowing him to anticipate conflict before it happens. Weaknesses: Avoidance: Will actively isolate himself in Jefferies tubes or deep engineering sub-levels to avoid large social interactions, especially near his birthday (the anniversary of his finiis'ral cycle). Frontier Day Trauma: Carries immense guilt from utilizing his medical and engineering knowledge to brutally incapacitate his assimilated younger crewmates during the Borg crisis. Biological Ticking Clock: His mechanical dampener is an experimental prototype; the fear of it failing and triggering a massive, uncontrolled finiis'ral is a constant source of anxiety.
Ambitions		At first his most pressing ambition was to fight his finiis'ral cycles to his dying breath but once he encountered his emotional cornerstone Chaol, he had been losing that ambition to another. Officially bond with Chaol when the time felt right. A secondary was to make a performing finiis'ral blocker drug that he could produce and bring back to Krios Prime and Valt Minor to give his fellow EMs freedom but that died when his medicine knowledge began to run out and Frontier Day pushed him into Engineering where he pursued a mechanical finiis'ral blocking device which he is currently working on. He hadn't thought about it much after being with Chaol for nearly 3 years but marriage had crossed his mind even though the finiis'ral bonding is a union by Kriosian and Valtese law. Making friends once he knew he can emotionally invest in the relationships without compromising his very being has always been a itch he wanted to scratch.
Hobbies & Interests		Research & Invention: Constantly tinkering with micro-circuitry and bio-neural gel packs to optimize his personal dampening device. Puzzle Solving: Enjoys complex, multi-dimensional jigsaw games and structural logic puzzles from various Federation worlds. Avoiding Interests: Deliberately stops himself from getting too passionate about recreational activities, believing that once he imprints, his own interests will be erased and replaced by his mate's interests.

Personal History		Childhood (2373–2389): Just six years after Kamala (the rare female EM) successfully reunited Krios Prime and Valt Minor (TNG: "The Perfect Mate"). Narud grew up during the fragile, messy early years of this reunited society. Because of Kamala’s legendary success, Empathic Metamorphs became highly prized commodities again, seen as living political glue. While noble houses kept their EMs in luxury, common-born EMs like Narud were institutionalized. At age 10, when his abilities manifested, he was taken from his parents and placed in a highly strict, state-run Kriosian boarding academy. The academy was effectively a finishing school designed to strip away individuality. Narud watched older boys hit finiis'ral and get matched with wealthy politicians, merchants, or diplomats, instantly losing their own personalities to become perfect, hollow reflections of their masters. As a commoner, his future was to be sold or traded for planetary stability. Terrified of losing his own mind and soul, he used his emerging empathic sensitivity to manipulate the academy guards and smuggled himself onto an off-world Earthbound freighter at age 15.
Service Record		Medicine Apothecary (2389–2396): Graduated Starfleet Academy with a focus on Medical Sciences, desperately researching a chemical inhibitor for his biology. Assigned to an Olympic-class medical frigate, he operated on the borders of the collapsed Romulan Star Empire. The sheer ambient trauma of the refugees caused his chemical inhibitors to fail. He began cross-training with several engineers kind enough to help him build a mechanical solution, realizing that engineering offered the control biology lacked. Engineering Epiphany (2396–2401): Seeking the resources to finalize his mechanical cure, Narud officially transferred to the Engineering division. His first posting was Deep Space 4, a massive logistical hub where he was tasked with overhauling the station's decaying primary fusion manifolds. This grueling work allowed him to master heavy-duty power routing and high-fidelity micro-circuitry. During his off-shift hours, he finally succeeded in building and implanting his neural-dampening device with guidance from several engineers. For the first time in his life, his mind was quiet. In 2399, now a highly focused propulsion specialist, he was assigned to the Ross-class cruiser, USS Vanguard. Preferring isolation, Narud practically lived in the ship's Jefferies tubes and warp nacelle access corridors. It was here, in 2400, that he met Chaol Westfall, the ship's Deputy Chief of Security. During routine internal sweeps, Chaol repeatedly found the isolated engineer. Instead of forcing social interaction, Chaol simply offered a quiet, steady presence. Due to Chaol's rigorous martial arts discipline and grounded pragmatism, his mind felt remarkably "safe" to Narud's empathic senses. Over the next year, Chaol's unshakeable calm became Narud's anchor, cutting through the Kriosian's deep-seated anxieties and blossoming into a profound romantic bond (not the bonding that happens during finiis'ral, a regular social one). Frontier Day Disaster (2401): At age 28, Narud avoided assimilation. As a former doctor and current engineer, he was forced to lock down corridors, vent atmospheres, and rig plasma relays to neutralize the assimilated youth of his own crew. He saved the ship, but the psychological toll cemented his retreat from biological sciences. Present (2403): Promoted to Chief Engineer of the USS Intrepid, finding solace in the cold certainty of the Constitution III's engines.