Kastarak

Authored by Richard A

Character Biography

Personal information
- Date of birth: 5 April 2245 (Earth calendar)
- Place of birth and growing up: Town of K’taal (pre-2258 population: 23,600), located 220 km towards the inland from Raal, Vulcan. This is also Kastarak’s hometown.
- Gender: Male

CV
2257–2258: Intern, K’taal clinic (as part of his primary education geared towards medicine and health care)
2259–2264: Medical studies on New Vulcan, graduated with a Vulcan degree in Vulcan medicine as a physician in 2264.
2264–2267: Resident at hospital on New Vulcan, while beginning specialization courses in psychiatry.
2267–June 2270: Star Fleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth. Initially tried to continue residency in psychiatry, but was denied, and highly encouraged to switch to cross-species emergency care, and qualification in that was achieved in January 2270.
June 2270–19 May 2272: Ensign, USS Chernov (July–September 2270, temporarily assigned to the SS Tasmeen)
19 May 2272–23 January 2273: Lieutenant (junior grade), USS Chernov
23 January 2273–present: First Officer; Lieutenant , USS Chernov

Commendations
Starfleet Award for Valor, 19 May 2272
Starfleet Star for Conspicuous Gallantry, 19 May 2272

Family
- Mother: T’fal (2214–2258)
- Father: Leptik (2214–2258)
- Younger sister: Selak (2252–2258)
- Younger brother: Tolk (2252–2258)
- Youngest brother: Sabok (2258–2258)

Kastarak was betrothed to S’parek since his childhood, but she died during the destruction of Vulcan. He has not had a relationship since, nor sought one out.

Personality
- Curious about other species, cultures and languages; interests also include psychology and history
- Using Vulcan standards and the five-factor personality model, he has high levels of openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional sensitivity (the latter possibly as a result of the adolescent trauma of the death of his family and destruction of his homeworld at the age of 13).
- Has a certain aversion towards all things and people Romulan, does his best to hide it, but sometimes fails it
- The destruction of Vulcan and the death of his family, along with having no mementos of them is traumatizing for Kastarak, he has not quite dealt with it yet
- Meditates regularly

Skills
- Speaks Vulcan, English, and conversational Klingon. Understands most dialects of Romulan when written, but with great difficulty when spoken. Picked up some basic Andorian.
- Did Suus Mahna when younger, but has not performed it regularly since the destruction of Vulcan
- Exercises regularly

Appearance
- Jet-black hair, styled wavily and human-like. Previously styled and straightened in the traditional Vulcan bowl-cut fashion
- Brown eyes
- Olive-to-bronze-coloured skin
- Muscular–lean build
- Clean-shaven face

Important relations:
- Shravyk – his first non-Vulcan friend – and room mate for three years in San Francisco while in Star Fleet Academy. They still keep in some contact, though Shravyk is serving elsewhere.
- On the Chernov, Kastarak considers Ngokav Sega’a and Umbri Hawkins his closest friends. He has a good working relationship with Sutalo, though keeps his private distance from Sutalo due to their close collegial relationship (Sutalo being a Sickbay nurse). He had an intimate bonding session with T’Aria (with emotional flavour, due to emotional dysregulation from the infection) while the two of them were in quarantine following mutual infection from a Romulan flu-like virus. As such, she is the closest Vulcan relation in Kastarak’s life, but at the same time the most awkward Vulcan relationship, and one that Kastarak does not know how to process. His relationship to Symar has developed and matured, as Symar disclosed more and more of his true identity to Kastarak. Moreover, Kastarak experiences a physical and emotional attraction to Pawl Batario. With regard to others on the ship, Kastarak has a deepheld respect for captain Chris Taggart, and regards him a paternal figure in lieu of his lost family (in a similar vein, T’Aria is a sister figure).

Biography snippets
As revealed in posts:
- Two of his great grandfathers suffered from Tuvan syndrome.
- As a child, one of his earliest memories was getting bitten by a toxin-releasing animal (the species of which he could not remember). His mother heard his shrieks, leaped to him, and held him until the ambulance hovercraft came.
- He had a childhood infection of choriocytosis
- Slightly older, still a child, Kastarak developed some difficulties sleeping. His father would help him by setting up a fire and boiling water. Drinking hot water had since become a routine for Kastarak whenever he struggled to sleep.
- First and only time in space prior to the destruction of Vulcan occurred at the age of 8. He and grandparents visited a nearby moon.
- First pon-farr, in 2258, just a few weeks after the destruction of Vulcan.
- Suffers from PTSD-like symptoms following the destruction of Vulcan and the loss of his parents and everyone he ever knew. Does not mention it to anyone however. Leaving Vulcan during the destruction was his first real space ride. He and a nurse were travelling in a shuttle to pick up some displaced and injured Andorian hikers when the destruction occurred. They went into space instead and saw the destruction of the planet live.
- Before entering the Academy, in 2265, at the age of 20, he went through his second pon farr. He experienced dark traumatic feelings, memories and thoughts infected the sexual desire he had to people in his vicinity. He had even challenged a random passerby on New Vulcan to a kal-if-fee. His third pon farr is thus due 2272.
- At Star Fleet Academy, he shared a room with an Andorian for a while, Shryvak. He did not venture much outside the Academy’s campus during his time there. Kastarak’s supervisor at his medical residency was Sanna Valkeapää, from Finland. They remain in touch.
- For a while, he was roommate with Umbri Hawkins. He is fascinated by their music, and considers them a friend.
- Just a few days after joining the Chernov, Kastarak was temporarily re-assigned to a Vulcan passenger ferry, the Tasmeen, where there was an outbreak of a virus of Andorian origin. He was assigned there due to his speciality in both cross-species medicine and emergency care. Once the situation had calmed down, he returned to the Chernov.
- Finds fascination in human metaphors.
- Infected by a Romulan-originating flu, with mild symptoms, in February 2271, along with T’Aria. Virus could not infect non-Vulcans, non-Romulans.
- Kastarak’s birthday, when recalculated to Earth calendar, is 5 April 2245. 5 April is also an Earth holiday, First Contact Day.
- While in Star Fleet Academy, he went on a field trip on one of his courses to the Amazon, in Brazil. While the humans were all bitten by mosquitoes, the mosquitoes left him all alone.
- Pon farr in February/March 2272.
- Came out to himself and to Umbri in May 2272 (same-sex attraction)
- Awarded Starfleet Award for Valor and the Starfleet Star for Conspicuous Gallantry on 19 May 2272, on the same day as his promotion from Ensign to Lieutenant (junior grade)
- Promoted to First Officer and full lieutenant during a night-time gym session in January 2273. Promoted to lieutenant commander in March 2273.