Máthénwy Eidelwel
HUMAN FEMALE
AGE 24 HEIGHT 170 CM WEIGHT 59 KG PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Eidelwel is on the tall side for a human woman, reasonably fit with a washed-out, almost waxen complexion, bold features and an unmanageable tangle of chestnut hair. Her eyes are heavy-lidded and deeply blue, with thick dark lashes. Her mouth is full and sensual, but when it comes, her smile is lopsided, almost a smirk; it doesn't invite so much as challenge, a Mona Lisa smile. If she is pleasant enough to look at, hers is also an unconventional look, neither ethereal nor enticing, at times both simple and remote – as though her outward appearance was hobbled somehow by an inner strain or emotional ambivalence. When she moves, she tends to either stalk or curl inward, feline-like, simultaneously furtive and intensely private. |
She dresses practically, in layers of dark, sturdy materials that can hide stains and reduce heating costs or, conversely, can allow for uninhibited movement. She rotates between a few basic outfits, seemingly by necessity, since she doesn't appear to have much in the way of personal funds. If she ever owned jewelry, she must have sold it long ago.
PERSONALITY
Eidelwel is complex and mercurial, her sense of humor and moral outrage tempered somewhat by depressive and obsessive tendencies. She is an emotional survivor but many of her decisions are informed more by desperation and low self-esteem than by logic or planning. She has some but not all of the qualities of a leader, as she is equitable and fair, but can be credulous, too, and is often swayed by a strong personality, a loud or violent temper, or by overwhelming confidence. |
Having learned to keep a great deal inside, Eidelwel does not make friends easily and takes few emotional risks. She is stubborn, but questions herself incessantly in private. When she reaches out to others, it is as often as not out of a sense of shame for being so naturally introverted - or guilt for not caring more for people, for being braver and a better person.
Eidelwel has been waiting her entire life for good fortune to fall into her lap. She sees Fawkes as both a reason to go on and a chance for independence, although she is also secretly terrified of the responsibility and potential for disaster. She figures she will probably blow this chance as she has blown all her chances, although she also harbors a secret hope in heart, like a tiny candle, that somehow things will turn around, that she will find her feet and take control of her life.
Eidelwel has been waiting her entire life for good fortune to fall into her lap. She sees Fawkes as both a reason to go on and a chance for independence, although she is also secretly terrified of the responsibility and potential for disaster. She figures she will probably blow this chance as she has blown all her chances, although she also harbors a secret hope in heart, like a tiny candle, that somehow things will turn around, that she will find her feet and take control of her life.
STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES
Eidelwel is positive, hard-working, and committed to life. Her survival instincts are strong and she does not take gifts or good fortune for granted. She does not expect courtesy or kindness from anyone, and so is rarely surprised when someone mistreats her. She is sometimes emotionally withdrawn, and needs a certain amount of alone time every day to remain sane. Her hormones occasionally get the best of her; at times she must fight to stay balanced or sink into pessimism. Her skepticism of others' motives and ambivalence about the ultimate value of life can creep out when her mood is down. |
Her real expertise as a crew member is limited to communications networks and protocols, basic deck maintenance and some cargo handling. She was basically a crewman with a couple of years of technical training, and has never been in charge of more than a few sailors, and a few moderately difficult assignments, in her life. She had never set foot on a freighter before taking over Fawkes and has no idea how to manage a business. Without willing helpers, she could not even get the ship out of port, much less earn enough with it to settle her father's debts.
AMBITIONS
Eidelwel has spent six years dogging along as an enlisted crew member in Starfleet, and the experience has definitely colored her outlook. She is skeptical of hierarchical structures, arbitrary authority, and bureaucratic interference. She wants to create an independent life for herself and her friends, and sees her windfall freighter as the means of doing so. She will defend her vision of personal freedom more fiercely than even she expects and take extraordinary measures, even to the extent of skirting Federation principles or, occasionally, outright thwarting them.
AMBITIONS
Eidelwel has spent six years dogging along as an enlisted crew member in Starfleet, and the experience has definitely colored her outlook. She is skeptical of hierarchical structures, arbitrary authority, and bureaucratic interference. She wants to create an independent life for herself and her friends, and sees her windfall freighter as the means of doing so. She will defend her vision of personal freedom more fiercely than even she expects and take extraordinary measures, even to the extent of skirting Federation principles or, occasionally, outright thwarting them.
HOBBIES & INTERESTS
There isn't much time for knitting or breeding canaries when you have a ramshackle sixteen-deck cargo freighter to pay off. Eidelwel's pet projects are all related to improving the state and status of her business, and as such her free time is severely limited. When she studies, it is exchange rates or engineering and navigational manuals; when she exercises, it is wiping decks and climbing service ladders. She used to enjoy music, gardening and holonovels, and even played racket ball and hockey for a time, but those interests are fast fading into memory. |
FATHER David Kaidan (missing, presumed dead) MOTHER Agnes Eidelwel (Mars resident)
EARLY LIFE 2365-83
Máthénwy was born on Starbase 214 to Agnes Eidelwel, a twenty-six-year-old communications technician, and David Kaidan, a twenty-nine-year-old hard-luck bosun's mate. Both Eidelwel and Kaidan were then employed on SS Fortnight, an Antares-class civilian freighter that sometimes serviced Federation outpost assistance programs. Though her parents were never married and frequently lived at odds, Kaidan, who would be promoted to bosun within three years, cared for Máthénwy and tried to bolster the child's self-esteem, which was never very good.
In 2368 Agnes resolved to continue her education, preferably at the small signals college attached to the Federation outpost on Caleb IV. Kaidan, his star on the rise at last, opted to remain with the Fortnight. Máthénwy would communicate with him only six times between '68 and '72, and see him only twice, in '69 and '70, at about the time when he began working on SS De Groene Draeck, a Groumal-class freighter with unspecified ties to Cardassian, Miradorn, Rakhari and Ferengi trading interests.
In 2371, when Máthénwy was six, the Battle of Omarion Nebula heralded that series of diplomatic disasters which would bring first the Klingon and Cardassian empires into war and then, in a little more than a year, the Klingons and the Federation. Caleb IV, a border world, was one of many caught too near the Klingon neutral zone in this conflict and had to be evacuated to the Bajor Sector. Agnes and her daughter were forced to relocate first to Nehru Colony, then to Ajilon Prime, which was briefly besieged by Klingon forces, and finally to New France Colony, where they remained for seven months – until '73, when the Dominion War broke out for real.
EARLY LIFE 2365-83
Máthénwy was born on Starbase 214 to Agnes Eidelwel, a twenty-six-year-old communications technician, and David Kaidan, a twenty-nine-year-old hard-luck bosun's mate. Both Eidelwel and Kaidan were then employed on SS Fortnight, an Antares-class civilian freighter that sometimes serviced Federation outpost assistance programs. Though her parents were never married and frequently lived at odds, Kaidan, who would be promoted to bosun within three years, cared for Máthénwy and tried to bolster the child's self-esteem, which was never very good.
In 2368 Agnes resolved to continue her education, preferably at the small signals college attached to the Federation outpost on Caleb IV. Kaidan, his star on the rise at last, opted to remain with the Fortnight. Máthénwy would communicate with him only six times between '68 and '72, and see him only twice, in '69 and '70, at about the time when he began working on SS De Groene Draeck, a Groumal-class freighter with unspecified ties to Cardassian, Miradorn, Rakhari and Ferengi trading interests.
In 2371, when Máthénwy was six, the Battle of Omarion Nebula heralded that series of diplomatic disasters which would bring first the Klingon and Cardassian empires into war and then, in a little more than a year, the Klingons and the Federation. Caleb IV, a border world, was one of many caught too near the Klingon neutral zone in this conflict and had to be evacuated to the Bajor Sector. Agnes and her daughter were forced to relocate first to Nehru Colony, then to Ajilon Prime, which was briefly besieged by Klingon forces, and finally to New France Colony, where they remained for seven months – until '73, when the Dominion War broke out for real.
The Eidelwels spent another two years in transit, drawn further and further from the changing battle lines along with so many other Federation citizens. By the end of it they had lost all contact with David Kaidan or anyone who had worked with him, and were living on Starbase 97, located in the Arkaria Sector. It wasn't much of a place to grow up, but at least it was out of harm's way, and Máthénwy would spend the next six years of her life there. She made few friends; however, besides attending a proper school for the first time, she did pick up some knowledge of signals and communications technology from her mother in that time, and also learned to play rudimentary chess, soccer, and erhu.
In 2380 Agnes reconciled with her father and brother and decided to make another move, this time to Utopia, a.k.a. Mars Colony 2, where Máthénwy's extended family lived. For the first time in nine years she was a normal human girl studying in a healthy Federation environment. |
While she still had trouble forming friendships with other children, and her already-fractured relationship with her mother worsened, she did bond with her grandfather and a female cousin about her own age. She did not do particularly well in school, although she did test well and occasionally played erhu and hu-qin in the school orchestra. She liked theater but hesitated to pursue it seriously.
SERVICE RECORD 2383-88
With not much interest in university, but with a good working knowledge of communications and recording technology, Máthénwy graduated from secondary school, took eight months off to consider her option before enlisting in Starfleet at the end of '83. She was inducted into Planitia Naval Training Center for basic training; following graduation she was assigned to the Signals Warfare School on Jupiter Station for technical training and spent about seven months training to become a maintenance technician. In '84 she was assigned to the flight operations department aboard USS Marcus Aurelius, a Vikrant-class carrier, as a maintenance technician.
Within fourteen months, Máthénwy had passed her technical exams in fuel and cargo maintenance training. When she was promoted again in '86 to petty officer second class, she went to work as a communications specialist, working first out of the operations center then, within six months, auxiliary duty with the flight deck operations center. Over the next two years she studied not just communications network operations but also network engineering, linguistics and cryptography theory, with the intention of attending Starfleet Academy at the end of her second tour with Aurelius.
In '88, at the age of twenty-four, Communications Specialist PO2 Eidelwel's second contract was up. The timing was serendipitous: while she waited in port for the assignment transfer pool to process her request for Academy entrance examinations, she received an unexpected request to meet with a Ferengi trade combine representative calling himself Agoh. The news: David Kaidan was missing and presumed dead along with the tiny crew of his Groumal-class freighter, SS Fawkes. His freighter had been recovered by the military after a long series of black market exchanges and piratical misadventures; it was still in hock to the trade combine for a considerable sum of latinum, but Ferengi and Federation legal complexities still left it the rightful inheritance of Kaidan's sole surviving heir, Máthénwy Eidelwel. She has the option of paying off her father's remaining debt to the Ferengi within approximately twenty-six months and owning Fawkes outright. Ruhl has offered her a small loan to hire a crew large and experienced enough to run cargo on the edge of Federation space, or to sell it to him for a pittance.
Of course Máthénwy only has the experience of a lowly petty officer and communications specialist. Operating a three-hundred-meter freighter is far beyond her; but if she could find a few people – luckless types, maybe, like her – it might be worth submitting separation papers to Starfleet. She hasn't made her final decision yet. The Ferengi are waiting – and naturally they won't wait forever.
SERVICE RECORD 2383-88
With not much interest in university, but with a good working knowledge of communications and recording technology, Máthénwy graduated from secondary school, took eight months off to consider her option before enlisting in Starfleet at the end of '83. She was inducted into Planitia Naval Training Center for basic training; following graduation she was assigned to the Signals Warfare School on Jupiter Station for technical training and spent about seven months training to become a maintenance technician. In '84 she was assigned to the flight operations department aboard USS Marcus Aurelius, a Vikrant-class carrier, as a maintenance technician.
Within fourteen months, Máthénwy had passed her technical exams in fuel and cargo maintenance training. When she was promoted again in '86 to petty officer second class, she went to work as a communications specialist, working first out of the operations center then, within six months, auxiliary duty with the flight deck operations center. Over the next two years she studied not just communications network operations but also network engineering, linguistics and cryptography theory, with the intention of attending Starfleet Academy at the end of her second tour with Aurelius.
In '88, at the age of twenty-four, Communications Specialist PO2 Eidelwel's second contract was up. The timing was serendipitous: while she waited in port for the assignment transfer pool to process her request for Academy entrance examinations, she received an unexpected request to meet with a Ferengi trade combine representative calling himself Agoh. The news: David Kaidan was missing and presumed dead along with the tiny crew of his Groumal-class freighter, SS Fawkes. His freighter had been recovered by the military after a long series of black market exchanges and piratical misadventures; it was still in hock to the trade combine for a considerable sum of latinum, but Ferengi and Federation legal complexities still left it the rightful inheritance of Kaidan's sole surviving heir, Máthénwy Eidelwel. She has the option of paying off her father's remaining debt to the Ferengi within approximately twenty-six months and owning Fawkes outright. Ruhl has offered her a small loan to hire a crew large and experienced enough to run cargo on the edge of Federation space, or to sell it to him for a pittance.
Of course Máthénwy only has the experience of a lowly petty officer and communications specialist. Operating a three-hundred-meter freighter is far beyond her; but if she could find a few people – luckless types, maybe, like her – it might be worth submitting separation papers to Starfleet. She hasn't made her final decision yet. The Ferengi are waiting – and naturally they won't wait forever.