Jagreh
Appearance
Looking at Jagreh, it would be quite easy to dismiss him outright: Standing only 115 cm tall, he is below even the short average height of ferallions. Pale wheat coloured fur covered his body and his restless tail ends in a very pale gold, almost cream coloured tuft. Similar tufts adorn the tips of his feline ears and his cheeks as subtle highlights. He has delicate facial features, with long wispy whiskers parting from either side of a short, sleek snout as well as above each of the two sharp and bright emerald eyes. His well-groomed and cared for fur forms an ever so subtle collar along the base of his neck and over his shoulders, the strands curving outwards barely noticeably along this border. The coat grows thicker and unrulier along the torso before smoothing back down towards his hands and hind paws.
The muscles underneath the fur are subtle but defined, giving this particular ferallion an overall slender and sleek look. While one could still see what a runt he might have been as a cub, now he moves with a sort of carefree, casual confidence, his movements precise yet relaxed. At times it might even resemble a form of intricate dance.
Jagreh wears his clothes rather carelessly. Never too fond of uniforms, or what he’d call “limiting” clothing in general, one could most often find him dressed in a plain light grey tunic and cream coloured, very loose trousers. A rapier hangs on one hip, hidden from view by a rather plain looking brown hooded robe made from roughspun fabric. The whole ensemble made him a strange sight on the command bridge of a starship, but he wears the clothes he likes for comfort, not style. Although having said that, he is quite fond of the way his casual attire makes him look.
Personality
Jagreh is a curious creature by nature, and incredibly thirsty for knowledge. On first impression he might seem a little distant, generally keeping a courteous distance to strangers - even more than was generally customary. Once that initial barrier got breached however, Jagreh shows himself to be kind, warm hearted and empathetic individual. His Northern upbringing left him modest and humble, but he was no less confident, with a quiet sort of self-assurance and pride. While his pride rarely manifests as boasting or other overtly prideful expressions, the feeling is still there. His quiet pride has a tendency to leave him prone to goading and taunts. Personal insults and challenges often cause the usually level headed and analytical ferallion to abandon his wits and charge headlong to face the challenge, and while this bout of hot-headedness usually cools down in time for him to put in his best effort, it nevertheless often leads him into personal trouble. Lucky for those serving under him, the added responsibility of command keeps his pride almost completely out of command decisions.
He’s loyal to a fault, and takes failures personally, regardless of if he actually should. To his friends he is dependable, kind and trustworthy, to his enemies cruel, relentless and ruthless, and to his underlings encouraging, fair and firm.
Personal history
Golden Memories
Jagreh was born to as an only child to a pair of commonborn parents in the northern regions, under the [clanName] clan. As a cub he was quite small and frail, sickly even, but his parents expended every effort to have him survive those precarious first months of his life. And survive he did. By the end of his first year he had stabilized and seemed to be taking in the world with renewed fervor, as if to make up for the lost time. His parents encouraged this and soon started to share their own expertise with him; His father – being one of the renowned masters of the sword in his time – spent countless days and weeks playfighting with his son, building up his coordination and strength. At the beginning the results were decidedly less than stellar: despite his obvious enthusiasm, he struggled greatly, got tired easily and had a tendency to trip over himself far more often than other kids his age. Jagreh’s dad was not at all bothered by this, and his encouragement, coupled with time, had him slowly catching up.
Having left the physical roughhousing to her husband, Jagreh’s mother (a skilled musician and an avid reader) made sure to play and sing for him, as well as read to him at every opportunity. The child took to this somewhat better than he did to his father’s attempts at education – or at least it didn’t result in quite so many fallings over – and his curiosity towards the world grew at an exponential pace. The parents noticed this quickly, and began to nurture the trait: Soon the house was filling with books of varying kinds, and Jagreh found himself being pushed to explore, climb and crawl – sometimes against his own volition. His exploration of the world was rarely hindered, even when it led to a scraped knee, split lip, bleeding nose or a (frankly incredible) bruise. Instead his efforts were praised, and a hug and a kiss from either parent soon made him forget any tears such an altercation caused. All this made for a spectacularly curious kid with an enthusiasm to sate that curiosity. Through his mother he developed a love of learning and books, and slowly a keen mind started to shine through – a fact which couldn’t have pleased his parents more.
However, this little intelligent fluffball had also developed other traits, traits that his parents had missed being so enamoured by the willingness and joy of learning. Jagreh felt an inexplicable desire and need to please, and while the praise felt nice, he slowly connected it to his successes. And with that, he started to hold himself to a higher and higher standards, aiming to make his parents happy. The attention they showered him with also had an effect. While the parents had managed to discourage a bloated head by instilling him with the northern values of quiet humility, integrity and sisu, they did leave him more than a little clingy and insecure when away from the safety of home. He also proved to find it difficult to focus on a task that he saw as dull and uninteresting.
These traits would prove to hamper him when came the time to start his education. By age six his keen mind was obvious, and encouraged by their neighbours, Jagreh’s parents submitted him to the royal academy examinations. He passed these examinations and was admitted to the elite boarding school. Such was the pride and faith his parents showed in him that Jagreh had no heart to refuse their wish.
First Years in the Royal Academy: the World Is Not Kind
Being a part of the commonborn minority wasn’t easy, especially given the fact that he was both small and scrawny for his age, and younger than most who joined the academy. The bullying started within a year of his entry into the school and continued, steadily increasing for five years. Jagreh could have reported it. He could have told to both his parents and the relevant authorities at the school. He surely could have, but the combination of fearing for the loss of his place in the school – and subsequent disappointment of his parents – as well as the deeply ingrained northern ideal prevented him from doing so. After all, telling would be quitting, and “northerners never quit”, as his dad had told him time and time again. So, he endured. His grades slipped and fell, but the white lie of high demands and stress came easy. And was it ultimately a lie anyway? He endured, because to not to risked far too much.
Situation wasn’t at all helped by the sudden onset of work. Despite his parents’ efforts to prepare him, Jagreh had yet to truly apply himself. As such, the sheer amount of pure grinding study thrown at him in the beginning took him by surprise, and the resulting plummeting grades, failures and other struggles the small cub was extremely poorly prepared for hit him hard, turning the previously bright, cheerful, open and curious little creature into a quiet and grim reclusive, struggling to make it through tasks that used to give him joy. Yet he hid his struggle from his parents still, feeling the seeds of quiet resentment, feeling he didn’t quite comprehend, take root.
Light at the End of the Tunnel and New Friends
The bullying and the bottled up struggles would have most likely killed him, were it not for a new arrival five years after he began his schooling. A boy just a year his senior, Fengwar by name, had no patience for Jagreh’s tormentors. While Fengwar was a noble’s son himself, he was brought up to respect the old values of proper noble conduct, and his strong build, well trained movements and stoic demeanour kept all the challengers at bay. For reasons unbeknownst to Jagreh, the older boy chose to take his junior under his wing, and Fengwar’s protection gave Jagreh the respite he so desperately needed. The older boy seemed far more mature than his age would have indicated and he was the rock Jagreh found himself seeking support from.
With a seemingly unbreakable wall between himself and the nobleborn students, Jagreh found himself able to focus again. It was by no means easy, nor without setbacks, but it was improvement, and the pace of it grew steadily. Fengwar’s influence didn’t limit to only supporting Jagreh against his tormentors. The older boy became not only Jagreh’s most trusted confidant, but also a demanding mentor and challenger: Fengwar wasn’t content watching idly by as Jagreh underachieved, instead demanding more from his friend and making sure to keep him company through the grind. And it worked. Studying wasn’t quite as dull with Fengwar as it had been previously: The boy had knowledge to share that books didn’t, and problems he struggled with that Jagreh found fascinating. Even the physical classes started feeling more enjoyable as Fengwar shared not only the tips and tricks he had learned from his own master in arms, but also the deep philosophies, tactics and histories behind them. And as with his friendship until now, somehow, Fengwar managed to get through to him. Countless of evenings were spent with only two of them, alone in one of the training halls, sparring and drilling while Fengwar shared with Jagreh the history, philosophy and theory of combat. At other times the two would find a quiet corner to study for their more theoretical examinations, or simply spent time together, Jagreh absorbing every little detail Fengwar had to share. Jagreh found himself both in awe, and slowly growing more and more excited. He was reminded of something… pleasant from his childhood, felt a certain warmth, and security from these talks and the demanding study and sparring sessions. And with that, came back a long lost joy. It had taken him years, but he started to feel a bit like himself again. So he doubled his efforts.
Jagreh’s grades began climbing at an increasing pace. He slowly grew more sociable and approachable, and drastic improvement could even be seen in his combat classes where he picked up his father’s preferred weapon, rapidly improving with it as if rediscovering a once lost skill. He became more eager in classes, starting to answer questions again, his hunger for knowledge once again starting to drive him to learn, to study, to experiment. There were setbacks of course, as occasionally his bullies found him alone, or managed to hit a sensitive spot. Yet, it didn’t throw him as far down as it had before. He had touched the bottom, and now he had a friend to help him climb.
It was around this time when Jagreh and Fengwar befriended two other young ferallions: A black and white female named Mikori, and a tiger striped, laid back friend of hers named Renji. Jagreh got along with both of them brilliantly: Renji was quick to smile, even quicker to laugh and there seemed to be little that could shake his sunny disposition. Mikori on the other hand – while at times intimidating with her uncanny ability to almost read your mind just by looking at you – was often the source of desperately needed comfort, empathy and understanding (both self and otherwise).
The four of them soon became inseparable, and Jagreh’s bullies found themselves facing not only the wall of Fengwar, but Mikori and Renji too. The two new friends seemed to round out Jagreh. While Fengwar’s stern disposition had undeniably helped Jagreh put up barriers against his tormentors, it was Renji’s carefree, brazenly casual attitude towards the world and everything in it that helped Jagreh rediscover his joy for life itself, not just studies and work. While Renji may not have had Mikori’s knack for deciphering emotions, he did have a knack for simply cheering him up after a failed test, or a particularly nasty encounter with a noble’s kid.
Mikori shared with him the importance of listening and watching, of seeing the emotions and responding to them, reinforcing his empathy that had been almost lost during his early childhood struggles. It was through Mikori that he learned to let go of the stoic exterior that both his northern upbringing and his time with Fengwar had reinforced. The skills that MIkori’s friendship taught him would prove invaluable in his future as the ability to understand and empathise with others as well as get to their motivations became one of the cornerstones of his leadership style. Not everything Mikori taught was pure however. the little girl was very light on her feet and Jagreh had to be as well if he wanted to join her during her nightly escapades through the backstreets of the capital – escapades on which he became familiar with many skillsets utilized by those who lurked the shadows. Yet, it was all knowledge for Jagreh, and in good company, so he absorbed it without a second thought.
Eventually the bullies found more and more of their efforts being deflected either from Jagreh’s friends or the young boy himself. And as time passed, a distinct changes in this previously shy and timid runt became obvious: While he was still small, his training with Fengwar had made him nimble and strong, his nights spent with Mikori had made him quick and light on his feet, and the confidence given to him by all three lit the fire in his eyes once more.
Coming Onto His Own
It was an otherwise insignificant day when it happened. Jagreh was cornered after a long class in the combat hall by five older children, all budding sprouts from a young noble family tree and all holding their training weapons. It had been almost a year since anything physical had happened, and almost a year since they had seen a proper reaction to their cruel probing, aand they had grown tired. If the runt refused to entertain them by responding to their taunts, they would make him respond with force. They saw the younger boy, but failed to see.
As the five assaulted him, Jagreh found himself surprised. Had the kids always been this slow? This predictable? First two were felled with little effort, one nursing a shattered wrist and another crumbling where he stood as the blunt blade of the practice rapier made contact with the side of his head with a resounding crack that was like a call to attention. His remaining foes significantly demoralized now, Jagreh pressed the attack, breaking limbs, bloodying noses and leaving at least one of the noble scions disfigured with claws. The rumours spread fast and Jagreh found himself a subject of a mix of fear and respect. No noble pressed the issue, since it would have even further spread the knowledge that their strong sons and daughters were felled by a commonborn runt.
The next three years were less eventful, although no less difficult for Jagreh. There was vast amounts of anger and frustration in him, and that anger made him prone to lash out. However, with Mikori’s help and time, he slowly managed to work through these issues as well, allowing his kind and friendly demeanour shine through once more. As such, by his second to last year Jagreh had garnered something of a reputation as an approachable, kind, friendly and helpful young man. Even though his circle of close friends was rather small, he was friendly and forthcoming to all, further gaining positive reputation despite his considerably bleaker past.
Time at Court and Start of a Career
On the last year of his education, another challenge rose to meet him: The queen took an interest to him. Much to Jagreh’s surprise, and for reasons that were completely unknown to him, the queen chose him to be tutored at royal court, by the royal tutors. That school year proved to be his most challenging yet. Not only was he expected to handle the last year’s curriculum perfectly by the end of it, his head was also crammed with lessons in diplomacy, courtly manners and intrigue and about a thousand other things. Instead of school instructors (who in the royal academy were bad enough as is) his firearm, combat and pilot training was handled by the members of the queensguard in some of the most grueling training regimens he would ever experience. Yet, despite all the stress that was now freshly being poured on him, he excelled. There was simply no time to be doing anything other than excel. Doing poorly at academics would mean double the workload, doing poorly in firearm or combat training meant getting legitimately beat up or shot at and the pilot training forced him to fly perfect before passing. Calling it intense would be the understatement of the millennium. Yet, still he persevered, and got to know many nobles, their children as well as members of the servant staff, and when he finally graduated with a prestigious royal court cadet sigil on his certificate, he had changed.
Then again, he hadn’t.
Jagreh was still the same jovial young ferallion he had been some years prior, but now there was confidence that hadn’t been there before, quiet self-assuredness of someone who had survived a grueling gauntlet. He proceeded to serve his two years in the Starfleet (having picked the specialization some years prior in the Academy), and with his background in royal academy as well as his court training, he possessed the skills to climb through the ranks with relative ease in spite of his posting being a relatively insignificant light fregate.
When it came to actual command positions however, he found himself under increasing resistance. While he eventually was permitted to have the rank of a commander after several recommendations from the crew, he and his captain came into blows often. The arguments mostly cented around protocol and conduct, as well as proper distance between officers and crew, and most importantly Jagreh’s inability – or downright refusal – to maintain any of those things. The ship he served on earned distinctions however, and even in the captain’s scathing report of him sent to the admiralty and the queen, the officer had to admit that, for all his considerable and painstakingly enumerated flaws he had potential for command.
As his compulsory service came to a close, Jagreh wanted to remain in the Starfleet, putting in an application for a transfer and a full officer commission. To his surprise, he was granted the command of the newly built Starfleet flagship, the Great Mother, and was told to gather a suitable core crew of officers and personnel. Immensely grateful he did as he was commanded, and a year later Jagreh, with the most powerful warship of the fleet under his command and his most trusted friends serving as his officers, had won numerous distinctions, well on his way towards the rank of a junior commodore.
Well this was an amazing character to read! I just love the way how you flesh him out and manage to weave an interesting story for him! It’s again extremely amazing to read! The only critiques I have for now though, are that you should break up the texts a little bit more often, throw in some quotes and images and boom! This article will be a perfect one! Congratulations and keep up the great work!