Post by Cadet Abdel Husayn on Sept 3, 2009 5:51:14 GMT
This is the second character for the creator of Delphine Xie (I don’t know if I’m doing this too soon, but I’ve had the idea for Abdel for a while so I figured I may as well try now).
EDITED so now Abdel's background/history fits better with what Memory Alpha says about the Borg
Character's Name: Abdel Husayn, f.k.a. “Nine of Twelve”
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Race: Human/Former Borg drone (please make sure to have something about him being a former Borg in the "race" part of his profile)
Birthplace: U.S.S. Oberon
Career track: Science or Medical Officer (undecided between the two, but he’s definitely on the “blue” track)
Avatar: profile.ak.facebook.com/object3/490/37/l112219435598_2055.jpg (Madhur Mittal, who played Salim in Slumdog Millionaire - I'm sorry if the pic is too big, can someone shrink it?)
"Hometowns":
U.S.S. Oberon: Ages 0-1
Cairo, Egypt, Earth: Ages 1-4
U.S.S. Titania: Ages 4-5
Borg Cube: Ages 5-11 (as a Borg drone)
U.S.S. Louisiana: Age 11
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Earth: Ages 11-18
Physical Profile:
Abdel Husayn is of half-Pakistani, half-Egyptian descent, with brown skin and jet-black hair. He stands at a towering 6’5”, and is very muscular. (I’m not going to assign him a weight because I don’t know how his inner Borg machinery would affect that.) As is typical of Borg drones, he is much stronger than the average member of his species due to his programming. When he was de-assimilated, the majority of his outer Borg machinery was removed, so that the only parts remaining are around his right eye (which he wears black glasses to cover) and on his left palm. His inner Borg machinery is intact except for that which interferes with his human function (for example, the machinery that kills the Borg if they experience strong emotion). Because his years spent in the Borg maturation chamber sped up his development, Abdel looks about 5 years older than he actually is (when de-assimilated, those first Federation scientists who saw him were shocked to find out he was only 11 years old, believing him to be closer to 16).
Personality:
Because he was de-assimilated at a rather young age (eleven, being assimilated at age five) Abdel fits in very well in human culture when compared to other former drones, e.g. Seven of Nine. He is a definite extrovert (an ENFP on the Myers-Briggs scale), and is very good at making and keeping friends. He is fun-loving and likes to attend and plan parties, and in high school, often got written up for his tendency for debauchery; he is attempting to curb his hard-partying ways enough so that they don’t get him kicked out of the Academy. Nevertheless, Abdel is very intelligent and a fairly disciplined worker, though the more time that passes since his years as a diligent Borg drone, the more easily distracted Abdel finds himself when working on subjects or tasks he does not like. Though he is seen as fun and easy-going, he can get rather impatient with people who disappoint him, and in leadership roles does have a tendency toward bossiness. That being said, Abdel has a very strong sense of justice and fair play, and will more likely be too soft-hearted than too hard-headed.
He is still very bitter toward the Borg Collective, feeling that they robbed him of a good chunk of his childhood and the experience of “being a kid,” and his anger and resentment toward the Borg were part of his decision to enlist in Starfleet. He is bitter enough that he has trouble accepting his parents’ religious faith, feeling his years stolen away by the Borg contradict the possibility of a merciful, fair God, and chooses instead to be an atheist. Despite this, he has a strong attachment to his parents and siblings, even though his mother, as a Starfleet Captain, is usually absent. And though he has made friends easily even in his short time at Starfleet, he very much misses his friends back home, and anxiously tries to convince some of the ones still in high school to enlist in Starfleet. He is extremely loyal.
As for special talents, Abdel is very athletic, finding his special physical strength from being an ex-drone to be very helpful when it comes to sports (though he tries not to use it to his unfair advantage). He particularly enjoys basketball, football (soccer), swimming, tennis and fencing, and hopes to join the school teams for at least a couple of those sports during his time at the Academy. He was Football Team Captain in both his junior and senior year of high school.
Background and History:
Abdel’s parents were then-Commander Reema Khan*, a native of Karachi, Pakistan and First Officer aboard the U.S.S. Oberon, and then-Ensign Ahmed Husayn, a native of Cairo, Egypt and working in the ship’s Security department. When they met, Reema was a 31-year-old science professor at Starfleet Academy, and Ahmed was a 22-year-old in his last year at the Academy. As two of the only devout Muslims in Starfleet (due to the fact that Earth has largely abandoned organized religion by the mid-24th century), Reema took to the young student and the two quickly formed a special bond, and thus when Reema was afforded the chance to be First Officer on the Oberon, she negotiated with its captain, Sorik, to get her protégé a position as an ensign in his department.
At this point, the two simply had a teacher-student relationship, but as they got to know each other better while living on the ship, they became closer and fell in love. With the approval of Captain Sorik, the two were married in the fifth year of the ship’s voyage, and soon after, Reema became pregnant. And thus, Abdel was born on the ship and became the only child aboard the Oberon. Eventually, Reema and Ahmed both felt that raising a young child was getting in the way of their ship duties, and decided to take a few years off to raise their son.
When Abdel was four, Sorik took command of a new ship, the U.S.S. Titania, headed for the Delta Quadrant. He urged Reema to re-join him as First Officer, feeling she was too talented to spend too much time to take any more time off. After he offered Ahmed, now a Lieutenant – who had continued more of his training at various Starfleet bases on Earth – a position as Security Officer, Reema agreed, and the family went back off into space.
The Titania ran into problems within its first year, needing a way to safely travel through Borg space. Though Captain Sorik had tried various ways of negotiating with the Borg, even as a logical Vulcan he repeatedly failed, and the crew had barely escaped assimilation many times. Finally, the Borg offered safe passage if the ship sacrificed one of its passengers to become a drone. Since Abdel was, once again, the only child on board, and the only non-crew member, Sorik reluctantly decided he would be the only person whom the small crew could afford to give to the Borg. However, Reema and Ahmed both refused, instead offering themselves as drones, but Sorik refused to lose his First Officer and Head of Security to the Borg Collective. Finally, he used the nerve-pinch on the parents and gave Abdel up to the drones, who assimilated the boy.
Both his parents were heartbroken, Reema going so far as to retire from the service as soon as the ship returned to the Alpha Quadrant, while Ahmed decided to take a position training new ensigns at a Starfleet station near Dubai. They eventually decided to have another child, and gave birth to twins Fatima and Yusuf in 2368. After a while, Starfleet began putting pressure on Reema to return to the service, offering her her own ship, and she eventually decided she needed to accept the loss of Abdel and became Captain Reema Khan of the U.S.S. Louisiana in 2370.
Meanwhile, Abdel was placed in a maturation chamber upon assimilation, in order to speed up his physical growth so he could become an adult drone as soon as possible. At age 11, he was removed, and assigned a job within the Borg Cube with the designation "Nine of Twelve."
A year later, a non-Federation planet in the Delta Quadrant sent out a distress signal to Starfleet. They were under attack from the Borg Collective, and needed help from the Federation to avoid assimilation. However, the species was reluctant to join the Federation, whom they saw as warmongerers; they wanted to keep to themselves and avoid contact with other species. So the Federation offered them assistance only if they were willing to use their technology to de-assimilate all captured drones of Federation species. The new species agreed. One of the drones designed to assist in the assimilation of the new species was Nine of Twelve. When Nine tried to assimilate one of their ships, he was outnumbered and de-assimilated. Nine was transferred to a Federation vessel when he turned out to be human, and the Medical officer discovered that he was Abdel Husayn, son of Reema Khan. Thus, Abdel was quickly transferred to the Louisiana, where he was reunited with his ecstatic mother. Though she was thrilled to be reunited with her son, she had him taken back to Earth to live with his father and his siblings, who were now three years old and did not even know they had an older brother. She did not want him to experience any more the dangers of deep space.
Abdel re-learned quickly how to be a human, and within a year was able to begin middle school at an international school in Dubai. He progressed quickly through the years, skipping the ninth grade, so that he was able to graduate at the normal age of 18. Though he made friends easily and thoroughly enjoyed his time at school, he secretly envied the rich childhoods his friends had enjoyed (and that Fatima and Yusuf were then enjoying) while he had been in the Delta Quadrant as a mindless drone. Abdel grew to be embarrassed of his Borg machinery, especially on the athletic field, where coaches of opposing teams frequently tried to get Abdel thrown off the field because simply having an ex-Borg (even one who tried his best not to use his special abilities when it came to sports) somehow gave his team an unfair advantage. As such, Abdel felt angry enough at his former captors that he decided that he needed to do something to make sure more people did not go through what he had. By the time Abdel reached his second-to-last year of high school, he was dead-set on applying to Starfleet as a science or medical officer, in hopes of helping to de-assimilate Borg drones or helping to develop “vaccines” that would prevent one from being assimilated, if possible. He wanted to play a role in defeating the Borg Collective, which had cast such a shadow over his young life, once and for all.
*Note: Reema Khan is of no relation to Khaaaaaaaaaaannn!
Sample Roleplay:
On the one hand, Abdel was excited to begin his Starfleet training, as he began to unpack his things in his new room and waited to meet his new roommate. He had heard both of his parents’ stories about their years at the Academy, how much fun they had had and how many friends they made. “You’ll meet your true friends there,” his father had said, “where you’re all working toward the same goal. Even though it may seem like you’re on different tracks – future commanders, intelligence officers, medical officers, whatever – you’re really all working toward the same thing, and don’t forget it. You’re all out there to make the galaxy a better place for every member of the Federation.”
In any case, Abdel particularly had never had trouble making friends. He thought of his close friends at the Dubai International School, and felt a pang of homesickness, especially for his best friend Daisuke, a Japanese boy with a big smile. Daisuke had wanted desperately to be a Starfleet pilot, but had not passed the test for admission, and was forced to wait another year and re-apply. Abdel felt bad for him and really missed him, and knew that even though he would (hopefully) gain some new friends at Starfleet, they would never replace the old friends he had back in Dubai.
And there was a part of Abdel that worried about how he might fit in at Starfleet, if his knack for making friends would truly apply here. At the International School, despite its proximity to the Starfleet base, few of his classmates had parents who were officers; some were children of ensigns who were just getting their bearings, but few had the prestige of being the son of a Captain, like Abdel did. He knew that this would not be the same at the Academy. Many of his fellow cadets would be following in their parents’ footsteps, just like Abdel had. And that was what disturbed him: He’d sure more than one had lost a family member to the Borg Collective, or may in the future. How did he know that he wasn’t the drone who might have assimilated a friend’s parent or relative? Even if he wasn’t, they probably would still silently accuse him, once they figured out his true nature. He could hide the signs now, but not forever; eventually, he would need to take off his sunglasses, and open his clenched left fist.
What if his own roommate assumed he was still a murderous drone, ready to assimilate the whole Academy?
Abdel told himself to stop worrying, that he would do fine, and make plenty of friends just as he had in high school. Still, the fears wouldn’t leave him, as he anxiously awaited his new roommate’s arrival. Abdel knew he’d never be able to escape his past.
(Basically, my inspiration for this character was two-fold: one, though I haven’t seen Voyager, I came across Seven of Nine’s character while perusing Memory Alpha and found her story rather inspiring and intriguing, and so after creating Delphine I toyed with the idea of doing a character who was a former Borg drone. Secondly, the human characters on Small Acorns represented a fairly small section of Earth, with only India represented outside of the Americas/Europe/Australia, and I wanted to add a bit to the human diversity. I wanted to create a character from the Middle East particularly because I liked the idea of glimpsing how different that part of the world would be in Star Trek’s peaceful vision of Earth in the 24th century, and how the area would have developed from our modern, war-torn Middle East. So Abdel is a combination of those two ideas.)
EDITED so now Abdel's background/history fits better with what Memory Alpha says about the Borg
Character's Name: Abdel Husayn, f.k.a. “Nine of Twelve”
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Race: Human/Former Borg drone (please make sure to have something about him being a former Borg in the "race" part of his profile)
Birthplace: U.S.S. Oberon
Career track: Science or Medical Officer (undecided between the two, but he’s definitely on the “blue” track)
Avatar: profile.ak.facebook.com/object3/490/37/l112219435598_2055.jpg (Madhur Mittal, who played Salim in Slumdog Millionaire - I'm sorry if the pic is too big, can someone shrink it?)
"Hometowns":
U.S.S. Oberon: Ages 0-1
Cairo, Egypt, Earth: Ages 1-4
U.S.S. Titania: Ages 4-5
Borg Cube: Ages 5-11 (as a Borg drone)
U.S.S. Louisiana: Age 11
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Earth: Ages 11-18
Physical Profile:
Abdel Husayn is of half-Pakistani, half-Egyptian descent, with brown skin and jet-black hair. He stands at a towering 6’5”, and is very muscular. (I’m not going to assign him a weight because I don’t know how his inner Borg machinery would affect that.) As is typical of Borg drones, he is much stronger than the average member of his species due to his programming. When he was de-assimilated, the majority of his outer Borg machinery was removed, so that the only parts remaining are around his right eye (which he wears black glasses to cover) and on his left palm. His inner Borg machinery is intact except for that which interferes with his human function (for example, the machinery that kills the Borg if they experience strong emotion). Because his years spent in the Borg maturation chamber sped up his development, Abdel looks about 5 years older than he actually is (when de-assimilated, those first Federation scientists who saw him were shocked to find out he was only 11 years old, believing him to be closer to 16).
Personality:
Because he was de-assimilated at a rather young age (eleven, being assimilated at age five) Abdel fits in very well in human culture when compared to other former drones, e.g. Seven of Nine. He is a definite extrovert (an ENFP on the Myers-Briggs scale), and is very good at making and keeping friends. He is fun-loving and likes to attend and plan parties, and in high school, often got written up for his tendency for debauchery; he is attempting to curb his hard-partying ways enough so that they don’t get him kicked out of the Academy. Nevertheless, Abdel is very intelligent and a fairly disciplined worker, though the more time that passes since his years as a diligent Borg drone, the more easily distracted Abdel finds himself when working on subjects or tasks he does not like. Though he is seen as fun and easy-going, he can get rather impatient with people who disappoint him, and in leadership roles does have a tendency toward bossiness. That being said, Abdel has a very strong sense of justice and fair play, and will more likely be too soft-hearted than too hard-headed.
He is still very bitter toward the Borg Collective, feeling that they robbed him of a good chunk of his childhood and the experience of “being a kid,” and his anger and resentment toward the Borg were part of his decision to enlist in Starfleet. He is bitter enough that he has trouble accepting his parents’ religious faith, feeling his years stolen away by the Borg contradict the possibility of a merciful, fair God, and chooses instead to be an atheist. Despite this, he has a strong attachment to his parents and siblings, even though his mother, as a Starfleet Captain, is usually absent. And though he has made friends easily even in his short time at Starfleet, he very much misses his friends back home, and anxiously tries to convince some of the ones still in high school to enlist in Starfleet. He is extremely loyal.
As for special talents, Abdel is very athletic, finding his special physical strength from being an ex-drone to be very helpful when it comes to sports (though he tries not to use it to his unfair advantage). He particularly enjoys basketball, football (soccer), swimming, tennis and fencing, and hopes to join the school teams for at least a couple of those sports during his time at the Academy. He was Football Team Captain in both his junior and senior year of high school.
Background and History:
Abdel’s parents were then-Commander Reema Khan*, a native of Karachi, Pakistan and First Officer aboard the U.S.S. Oberon, and then-Ensign Ahmed Husayn, a native of Cairo, Egypt and working in the ship’s Security department. When they met, Reema was a 31-year-old science professor at Starfleet Academy, and Ahmed was a 22-year-old in his last year at the Academy. As two of the only devout Muslims in Starfleet (due to the fact that Earth has largely abandoned organized religion by the mid-24th century), Reema took to the young student and the two quickly formed a special bond, and thus when Reema was afforded the chance to be First Officer on the Oberon, she negotiated with its captain, Sorik, to get her protégé a position as an ensign in his department.
At this point, the two simply had a teacher-student relationship, but as they got to know each other better while living on the ship, they became closer and fell in love. With the approval of Captain Sorik, the two were married in the fifth year of the ship’s voyage, and soon after, Reema became pregnant. And thus, Abdel was born on the ship and became the only child aboard the Oberon. Eventually, Reema and Ahmed both felt that raising a young child was getting in the way of their ship duties, and decided to take a few years off to raise their son.
When Abdel was four, Sorik took command of a new ship, the U.S.S. Titania, headed for the Delta Quadrant. He urged Reema to re-join him as First Officer, feeling she was too talented to spend too much time to take any more time off. After he offered Ahmed, now a Lieutenant – who had continued more of his training at various Starfleet bases on Earth – a position as Security Officer, Reema agreed, and the family went back off into space.
The Titania ran into problems within its first year, needing a way to safely travel through Borg space. Though Captain Sorik had tried various ways of negotiating with the Borg, even as a logical Vulcan he repeatedly failed, and the crew had barely escaped assimilation many times. Finally, the Borg offered safe passage if the ship sacrificed one of its passengers to become a drone. Since Abdel was, once again, the only child on board, and the only non-crew member, Sorik reluctantly decided he would be the only person whom the small crew could afford to give to the Borg. However, Reema and Ahmed both refused, instead offering themselves as drones, but Sorik refused to lose his First Officer and Head of Security to the Borg Collective. Finally, he used the nerve-pinch on the parents and gave Abdel up to the drones, who assimilated the boy.
Both his parents were heartbroken, Reema going so far as to retire from the service as soon as the ship returned to the Alpha Quadrant, while Ahmed decided to take a position training new ensigns at a Starfleet station near Dubai. They eventually decided to have another child, and gave birth to twins Fatima and Yusuf in 2368. After a while, Starfleet began putting pressure on Reema to return to the service, offering her her own ship, and she eventually decided she needed to accept the loss of Abdel and became Captain Reema Khan of the U.S.S. Louisiana in 2370.
Meanwhile, Abdel was placed in a maturation chamber upon assimilation, in order to speed up his physical growth so he could become an adult drone as soon as possible. At age 11, he was removed, and assigned a job within the Borg Cube with the designation "Nine of Twelve."
A year later, a non-Federation planet in the Delta Quadrant sent out a distress signal to Starfleet. They were under attack from the Borg Collective, and needed help from the Federation to avoid assimilation. However, the species was reluctant to join the Federation, whom they saw as warmongerers; they wanted to keep to themselves and avoid contact with other species. So the Federation offered them assistance only if they were willing to use their technology to de-assimilate all captured drones of Federation species. The new species agreed. One of the drones designed to assist in the assimilation of the new species was Nine of Twelve. When Nine tried to assimilate one of their ships, he was outnumbered and de-assimilated. Nine was transferred to a Federation vessel when he turned out to be human, and the Medical officer discovered that he was Abdel Husayn, son of Reema Khan. Thus, Abdel was quickly transferred to the Louisiana, where he was reunited with his ecstatic mother. Though she was thrilled to be reunited with her son, she had him taken back to Earth to live with his father and his siblings, who were now three years old and did not even know they had an older brother. She did not want him to experience any more the dangers of deep space.
Abdel re-learned quickly how to be a human, and within a year was able to begin middle school at an international school in Dubai. He progressed quickly through the years, skipping the ninth grade, so that he was able to graduate at the normal age of 18. Though he made friends easily and thoroughly enjoyed his time at school, he secretly envied the rich childhoods his friends had enjoyed (and that Fatima and Yusuf were then enjoying) while he had been in the Delta Quadrant as a mindless drone. Abdel grew to be embarrassed of his Borg machinery, especially on the athletic field, where coaches of opposing teams frequently tried to get Abdel thrown off the field because simply having an ex-Borg (even one who tried his best not to use his special abilities when it came to sports) somehow gave his team an unfair advantage. As such, Abdel felt angry enough at his former captors that he decided that he needed to do something to make sure more people did not go through what he had. By the time Abdel reached his second-to-last year of high school, he was dead-set on applying to Starfleet as a science or medical officer, in hopes of helping to de-assimilate Borg drones or helping to develop “vaccines” that would prevent one from being assimilated, if possible. He wanted to play a role in defeating the Borg Collective, which had cast such a shadow over his young life, once and for all.
*Note: Reema Khan is of no relation to Khaaaaaaaaaaannn!
Sample Roleplay:
On the one hand, Abdel was excited to begin his Starfleet training, as he began to unpack his things in his new room and waited to meet his new roommate. He had heard both of his parents’ stories about their years at the Academy, how much fun they had had and how many friends they made. “You’ll meet your true friends there,” his father had said, “where you’re all working toward the same goal. Even though it may seem like you’re on different tracks – future commanders, intelligence officers, medical officers, whatever – you’re really all working toward the same thing, and don’t forget it. You’re all out there to make the galaxy a better place for every member of the Federation.”
In any case, Abdel particularly had never had trouble making friends. He thought of his close friends at the Dubai International School, and felt a pang of homesickness, especially for his best friend Daisuke, a Japanese boy with a big smile. Daisuke had wanted desperately to be a Starfleet pilot, but had not passed the test for admission, and was forced to wait another year and re-apply. Abdel felt bad for him and really missed him, and knew that even though he would (hopefully) gain some new friends at Starfleet, they would never replace the old friends he had back in Dubai.
And there was a part of Abdel that worried about how he might fit in at Starfleet, if his knack for making friends would truly apply here. At the International School, despite its proximity to the Starfleet base, few of his classmates had parents who were officers; some were children of ensigns who were just getting their bearings, but few had the prestige of being the son of a Captain, like Abdel did. He knew that this would not be the same at the Academy. Many of his fellow cadets would be following in their parents’ footsteps, just like Abdel had. And that was what disturbed him: He’d sure more than one had lost a family member to the Borg Collective, or may in the future. How did he know that he wasn’t the drone who might have assimilated a friend’s parent or relative? Even if he wasn’t, they probably would still silently accuse him, once they figured out his true nature. He could hide the signs now, but not forever; eventually, he would need to take off his sunglasses, and open his clenched left fist.
What if his own roommate assumed he was still a murderous drone, ready to assimilate the whole Academy?
Abdel told himself to stop worrying, that he would do fine, and make plenty of friends just as he had in high school. Still, the fears wouldn’t leave him, as he anxiously awaited his new roommate’s arrival. Abdel knew he’d never be able to escape his past.
(Basically, my inspiration for this character was two-fold: one, though I haven’t seen Voyager, I came across Seven of Nine’s character while perusing Memory Alpha and found her story rather inspiring and intriguing, and so after creating Delphine I toyed with the idea of doing a character who was a former Borg drone. Secondly, the human characters on Small Acorns represented a fairly small section of Earth, with only India represented outside of the Americas/Europe/Australia, and I wanted to add a bit to the human diversity. I wanted to create a character from the Middle East particularly because I liked the idea of glimpsing how different that part of the world would be in Star Trek’s peaceful vision of Earth in the 24th century, and how the area would have developed from our modern, war-torn Middle East. So Abdel is a combination of those two ideas.)
