Tzim-Sha
First Officer (former) Tzim-Sha (a.k.a. Tim Shaw)
Tzim-Sha (tsimʂa) is a ladder-climbing individual who seeks to become leader (First of the Stenza). After the Doctor intervened in his challenge, he was stranded on a desolate rock for 3407 years, using and abusing two godlike aliens in order to place in stasis planets that he felt "wronged the Stenza". During this time he developed delusions of godhood, until trapped in stasis himself by Graham and Ryan, two of the Doctor's companions. A tear in space and time, caused by the weakened reality around the planet when he trapped other planets in too-small spaces, ripped him out of stasis.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Prior to meeting the Doctor, was solidly muscular and athletic. After meeting the Doctor and then returning to the present, much of his body is replaced with prosthetics.
Body Features
Since his encounter with the Doctor, much of his body had to be held together mechanically. Following his mysterious transportation through time and space, these mechanical devices had to be replaced with Medical Gel. Most of the gel work is invisible to the outside (organ replacements or reinforcements, connective tissues, etc.) but some of it can be seen in otherwise gaping wounds were tubes once connected him to an outdated respirator.
Facial Features
The most marked feature of Tzim-Sha's face is a patchwork of teeth taken from his kills annealed to his face. It is often the first thing people notice. Past that, he has a square face, deep-set dark blue eyes, and fairly pronounced lips.
Apparel & Accessories
Outside of his Battle Armor, to which he has attached a facsimile of the Leader's War Gear during his period of exile, he tends, like most, toward wrapping textiles around his waist.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Tzim-Sha was born with five other pups, and as a boy the then leader Raida launched a campaign against the clans of leaders who disagreed with him. He belonged to one of these clans, and was old enough to remember each and every member marched onto the Ice Flats by their fellow Stenza soldiers. He escaped by standing stock still, slipping under the Flats and watching the bodies fall through. When all fell silent, he pulled himself out of the Flats and began to wander around the settlements in the hills around the Ice Flats.
In Strares, he found Creyth, who was and is the Elder of the Clan of the Lost. Creyth took him in, along with almost a hundred other pups and children who escaped the clan killings over that winter, and gave Tzim-Sha his current name. Creyth worked with one other man to assassinate Raida, and when that succeeded another had to be chosen.
As he grew, Creyth noted that he was unable to attach himself to his new clan, as he remembered who he was born to, and the way they died. So, Tzim-Sha devoted himself to the pursuit of rank. He saw that people in power could get away with virtually anything, and perceived it as a form of personal protection, so he committed himself to attaining standing by any means necessary.
This culminated in the night he cheated to challenge for leader, using a sophisticated gathering coil designed to locate his target for him so that he could spend as little time as possible seeking out the chosen human. This fell apart when he met the Doctor, after she regenerated and fell from the sky. While recovering from the regeneration, the Doctor and her new companions pieced together his plot, rescued his target, and attempted to send him back to Mudewei.
There were a couple of problems: The Doctor and her companions were implanted with DNA bombs, which the Doctor had to figure out how to remove. Secondly, Tzim-Sha's recall device was corrupted, depositing him on the planet known as Ranskoor Av Kolos. He was found there by the two living Ux, Andinio and Delph. Andinio, who had been training Delph, mistook Tzim-Sha for the Ux's god, the Creator. Tzim-Sha exploited this, though his first task was to recover from the detonated DNA bombs and be pieced back together.
After this arduous process, he devoted his time to the development and testing of a large shrine/weapon, something capable of placing a whole planet into stasis (as opposed to a human, or other species, trophy). Over time, living on a planet that sends out psychotropic waves that alter memory and personality, and living with the Ux, at least one of whom worshipped him, he developed the idea that their powers were his (at least to command). By the time he met the Doctor again, 3407 years later, he had shrunken down and captured five planets. The response to this until the TARDIS landed (responding to nine individual distress calls from that region), had been for the Congress of the Nine Planets to send fleets of ships in an effort to stop him. None were successful until Captain Paltraki and the Doctor.
The Doctor and her companions freed Tzim-Sha's hostages, including Andinio and Delph (over Andinio's protests), and used the Ux's powers to return the stolen planets to their places. Meanwhile, Graham shot him in the foot (having originally intended to kill him for the death of Grace during their first meeting), and he and Ryan imprisoned him in one of his own stasis chambers.
Some time later, a tear through space and time formed in his stasis chamber, and a slight movement of the planet, going about its natural course, pulled him through it. He was deposited in Esterholt, Ohio, in the year 2499, to be found by Ta'zhen.
Gender Identity
Male
Sexuality
Asexual
Education
As a child, Tzim-Sha received training in basic hand-to-hand combat, weapon use, self-defense, and education in math, science, history, language arts, and so on, along with the other children in his clan (and later, the other adopted children in the Clan of the Lost). Following his Citizenship Trial he committed himself to social standing, and so learned under clan officers efficient tactics and the ability to crush the enemy (as yet, he struggles with the concept that he is leading people; it's thanks to people like Ta'zhen that friendly casualties are not as high as they could be).
Employment
After gaining citizenship, he joined the army under his clan's banner, where he demonstrated a particular ruthlessness that troubled superiors but worked very well at intimidating the enemy. During his tenure, he became involved in putting down insurrections on other planets, which flowed disturbingly well into the series of purgings to follow. Due to his deeds (and incredible focus on standing), he rose through the ranks as an officer. The highest ranks have a long-standing environment of continual rank shifting, an environment in which he thrived and was able to maintain a position as First Officer once he attained it.
About this time, he developed a blood-sibling bond with Ta'zhen, the single non-Stenza he holds any positive regard for.
In 2499, the window opened for him to challenge for leader, and he leapt at the opportunity. However, due to the intervention of a newly regenerated Doctor, this caused him to fall flat on his face (metaphorically speaking) and be presumed missing for a week. Because of the flow of time, and the tears in reality, in that week he spent 3407 years pretending to godhood to a pair of planetbound Ux until the Doctor found him again and he was trapped in one of his own stasis pods. Though the vagaries of the universe allowed his recovery and eventual return to full health, his being alive mandated that he be tried for cheating by the council of Droghi, and sentenced accordingly.
At present, he is stripped of citizenship and his only ties to social legitimacy are through Ta'zhen.
Accomplishments & Achievements
While he is not known as a truly exceptional officer, he has the credit for taking the decisive victory on Azor through a complicated siege on the planetary capitol and the use of The "Muxteran Prisoner" Gambit with then-Third Officer Ta'zhen.
Failures & Embarrassments
His life took a real turn when the Doctor interfered with his Leadership Challenge, isolating him for millennia and setting off the chain of events that exposed his cheating to wider Stenza society, as well as calling into question many of his actions as an officer in the army. (Though these have yet to bear fruit and quickly fell out of fashion, rumors rarely die.)
Mental Trauma
Due to his experiences, his sense of the world is that it is completely unsafe, and further, because he was old enough to remember his clan of origin during the Incident (which he has only disclosed once to an outsider), he is incapable of fully feeling at home anywhere else. Lacking a solid sense of self, he seeks external validation, a drive which motivates his ladder-climbing tendencies and later, willingness to exploit two powerful, religious individuals for his own ends. He only works to maintain his composure under pressure because he understands (superficially) that that is how a leader acts; under enough pressure, his response devolves into rage.
Morality & Philosophy
Consistently regards others as lesser, such as continually referring to the Doctor as "tiny" or to her "puny mind" simply because she is different. Sees nothing wrong with cheating to achieve his goals. Sees himself as a "natural" or "rightful" leader (with little to no clue how he would go about such a job).
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
T'zim-Sha is primarily motivated by a desire for social standing, born of a belief that it is the only way he will properly belong in Stenza society.
Social
Religious Views
He has none of his own, but he is happy to exploit the views of others when they are convenient for him.
Social Aptitude
A duplicitous man, he lacks the confidence to do many things publicly, or in front of more than a couple of people, if he believes they will make him look bad. He does not tend to engage in social gatherings of any degree of formality, only attending if Ta'zhen drags him (sometimes kicking and screaming). Preferring to do most of his work behind the scenes, he cannot stand any of his actions being exposed, as they impact his reputation and sense of belonging.
Mannerisms
He is wont to refer to beings he sees as "lesser", directly as such. For example, his habit of referring to the Doctor as having a "puny mind" or calling her a "tiny creature". He does this with other aliens, though not directly with his own people. Ta'zhen's name derives from him calling her such.
Relationships
History
Developed while behind enemy lines on Azor. In the three years since they have not had many opportunities to address the social requirements of their attachment; instead they spent that time planning for the next challenge for leader together. Ta'zhen was willing to overlook his dishonest practices, and in return he offered her a position close to him should he succeed. He disappeared, and immediately upon reappearing, she made arrangements to save his life.
Nicknames & Petnames
typically insults like "tiny" or "ignorant slut"
Relationship Reasoning
forged in fire
Shared Secrets
Ta'zhen knows that Tzim-Sha's entire clan died at the hands of Raida. Tzim-Sha knows just how many of Ta'zhen's numerous scars are from her old life.
Legal Status
considered siblings
Species
Ethnicity
Professions
Previously Held Ranks & Titles
Year of Birth
2413
86 Years old
Circumstances of Birth
one of six
Birthplace
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Gender
male
Eyes
dark blue
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
dark blue
Height
6'5"
Weight
183 lbs
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Related Myths
Yeaah, I don't know how to feel about him. But he's so close to Ta'zhen. But I don't think I like him.
If it makes you feel any better, she doesn't like him half the time. They may be culturally bound but that doesn't mean they have to like each other. (Kind of like IRL siblings, from what I can gather.)