Séan Iven

Authored by Matt Evans

Character Biography

Séan Iven is a human of predominantly Irish descent. He grew up on Alpha Eridani II to two loving parents, Gwendolyn(or Gwen) and Don Iven. Don flew transport ships to and from Earth while Gwen was one of the colony’s med techs. While Séan’s dad was frequently absent the times he was around were filled with love and deep caring for both Séan and his mother. The happy family life was broken up after Séan’s eighth birthday when his mom was murdered by a mentally unstable patient. It was found that the patient had picked up some sort of microbe that altered their brain chemistry and made them prone to violent fits of rage.

The next decade or so saw Séan with his father Don doing long transport hauls to anywhere but Alpha Eridani II. Don’s grief never really subsided and the planet remained a painful reminder. So in this way Séan got what self-schooling he could during the frequent and long interstellar voyages, coupled with whatever he could learn from whoever would teach him during the layovers for resupply and restocking. A child dealing with grief while his father was emotionally unavailable due to his own grief, led Séan to being angry, bitter, and frequently lashing out. It was during a particularly long layover, where his father drowned himself in sorrow and alcohol, where Séan picked a target to vent his anger on that changed his life. By this point Séan had grown to a pretty good height and heft and thought that no one smaller than him would be his match. Imagine his surprise when an older and shorter Asian man tossed him around like a ragdoll.

Noburo Hiroyuki was a retired Starfleet officer who religiously practiced the martial art of Aikido. His first impression of Séan was that of a hot headed fool who was unable to control his anger and liked to fight. In a way Hiroyuki was right, but he found the deep well of grief that was at Séan’s core. After thrashing the youth a few more times over the coming weeks, he decided to impart what wisdom he could to the boy, wisdom hard won from experience and his own tragedies. What started as a bit of an adversarial relationship slowly changed into one of mentorship. Séan learned the way of Aikido but also had his anger tempered and directed to more productive pursuits. When it was finally time for his dad’s ship to be moving on Séan had only learned the bare rudiments of the martial art, but he continued to daily move through its forms as it polished his body and mind.

When there was time and access to the subspace network, Hiroyuki would provide Séan with the next step of his martial training and education as well. Séan initially balked at any sort of education after the compulsory portion of it was done, but Hiroyuki would hear none of it. Séan’s father wouldn’t be around forever and Séan needed to learn to rely on himself. What Séan didn’t know was that Hiroyuki planned to recommend him to the Starfleet Academy and needed to get his knowledge up to snuff. The following years of training and studying, with a lot of introspection and finally coming to terms with his loss, shaped Séan into a quieter young man who was thoughtful and learned to move with a purpose. The most valuable lesson he learned from Hiroyuki was to see himself for who he was, acknowledge his short-comings, and work to overcome them. What he learned from his father was to watch people, observe their moods and behavior, read their body language and decipher their motivations. These skills would serve him well as he later went and excelled at the Academy. Despite being large of stature and build, Séan went into counselling instead security, as he found that working with people to overcome their troubles was far more interesting than beating someone up.

The Athena was the third ship Séan had been posted to. His fourth posting overall after spending time as an adjunct counsellor at the Academy for a year. The two ships before the Athena he had been in an assistant counselling position with the Athena being his chance to head a department. He looked forward to bringing his experience and empathy aboard to help the crew. His fourth ship was the Ogawa also as the head of the department. After about a year of medical leave he now finds himself on Oed V and the different sort of environment this entails.