Summary

Full name: Chintaka of the House of Jitah.
Sex & Gender: Female (she/her)
Birthyear: 2016
Height: 1.73m (5'8")
Species: Raelon
Occupation: Chief Operations & Communication
Sexual identity: pansexual
Character: extravert, sociable, curious, adventurous, slightly reckless, short tempered.
Likes: Terran culture, Learning new languages, Adventurous missions, Archeology, Meeting new cultures, Her colleague and bestie Tom
Dislikes: People pulling her apart, Sudden shocks, Being looked down upon due to the ship she's stationed at, Raelon risk-avoiding culture

Character

Chintaka never really fit in the "safe" world of Raelon diplomats. She may be interested in foreign languages and cultures, but she never really was interested in the politics of the universe. Most of all, she was driven to explore new worlds, the stars calling her to go on an adventure. She had always been dreaming to become part of the crew of an exploration spaceship, but there were very little opportunities that her people offered. Little did she know she would get her wish in an unexpected way...

From childhood, she heard stories about a very promising up and coming civilisation on a far away planet called Terra. She didn't know how significant Terra was to her own species, but she was very interested in going to that planet someday, and was shocked to hear that a planet-wide war had done some severe damage there. But things got better and when the news broke out that first contact was officially made with Terra a few years later, she just had to go there at the first opportunity that would present itself. As soon as she turned 22, she got her chance: a student exchange programme that would put her on the Academy of Interplanetary Disciplines in Nairobi on Terra, one of the few educational institutes on the planet for jobs in space faring. She came into contact with Terran culture, which wasn't as stale as her own, and found the less sophisticated Terran technology (considered to be very antiquated on her planet) quite intruiging. She decided to settle down on the planet as her new permanent home after graduation, and not much later, she was recruited to be stationed on the Pioneer.

Chintaka is often looked down upon by most peers from her planet. 'Why would a Raelon like her serve on a ship with such ancient technology?' they'd say. But her peers who had decided to move to Terra would understand that it's more a social and cultural thing, getting in touch with your origins, and getting that sense of adventure and risk that is so lacking in Raelon culture. She would grow close with the ship's pilot, Tom Bronzefur, who she met at the Academy (even though he was a few years below her) and who had taught her sign language. The two of them have a lot of banter between them, but in the end, there is a click between them neither of them can't explain.

The Raelon people

The Raelon consists of various feline species looking very similar to Terran African feline humanthros. The biggest difference is that they have phantom limbs, meaning that their hands, feet torso and head are magically floating loosely, within a certain range. The magic field of their home planet of Raelia affects every creature that comes there, turning their limbs into phantom limbs for as long as they stay there. For Raelons, who are born in this field, their phantom limbs are permanent. Even when their limbs are pulled out of their range, they can still feel and use them over a considerably long range of multiple kilometers, and can still breathe and eat comfortably even when their head is quite far from the body.
For a long time, not much was known about the Raelon species' origins, but the only thing they knew for sure is that they didn't evolve on Raelia. Rumour has it that they were abducted from another planet by the equally nebulous Ancients, and uplifted into a space-faring civilisation. They are one of the earliest civilisations in the Federation to have achieved intergalactic travel and have been going about the galaxy for six millenia already. They took their role as diplomats and negotiators, and are often spokespeople for the Federation to other civilisations. They've overseen many civilisations on their way to join the galactic community, but there was only one planet that drew their particular interest.
When they stumbled across Terra around 1600 CE, they found that there were creatures living on this planet that look suspiciously similar to them. But bound by laws that forbid them to interfere with pre-warp societies, they had to observe the planet and its people from a distance. They quickly found this planet was a hugely biodiverse place and had a great source of "active magic", the rarer kind of magic in the Galaxy. They found that this had the long lost planet of their true origin. When Terra finally broke the Warp barrier, the Raelons couldn't wait to speak with its people, and were eager to search the planet for more evidence of their origins.

There they found the stories of Atlantis, where long ago where the Ancients settled, and who left the planet after a coup d'etat drove them out and allegedly destroyed Atlantis (which turned out to be an illusion). Together with Terran scientists, they puzzled together that the Raelon species had been created shortafter as a race of diplomats to prevent such political cataclism to occur ever again. A species that has little to no stake of their own, a neutral party. Although there was clarity now where their species came from, it didn't matter much in the end; they were just happy that they were finally reunited with their true roots, and their brother and sister species on Terra.

A group of Raelons wanted to go even further: they started the Terra Reunion Initiative. They'd resettle on Terra, in exchange for repairing the damage of the Wellspring War, from which Terra was still recovering. Their equipment was far superior to Terra's equiment, and restored heavily destroyed areas to their pre-war state in only a few years. Especially France and the Benelux, some of the heaviest hit countries in the war, welcomed them with open arms. Around 8 million Raelons made the step to move to their new home on Terra. Their role in Terra's eventual official entry into the Federation was of vital importance.

Raelons normally have about the same life span as Terrans, and can get up to 120 years old. However, their home planet seems to slow down or even reverse aging, stretching their life spans for much longer. There have been some individuals that are over six centuries old. This anti-aging magic seems to only affect Raelons, and it even works when they only visit the planet from time to time and spend about a month at a time there.
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And another alien character is added to the Pioneer's ensemble cast. The most annoying thing about drawing her are all the patterns of her coat...

UFIS story universe is by  Sabrina-taur

Drawn in InkScape