About Htun ZeyarName: Htun Khaing Mg Zeyar
Lieutenant Zeyar is the chief Communications Officer of the Inopia. Unarguably, he is slightly young for his post, but his unusual natural abilities, he is something of a savant at language learning, perhaps help to justify his appointment at such a young age. At least, Lieutenant Zeyar hopes that this is the case. He has not previously served in a formal mission role, or been a commissioned member of Starfleet. In his previous career, Lieutenant Zeyar chiefly served as a diplomatic exolinguist, but, like Hoshi Sato, in his current position, serves as the communications officer, despite his training more naturally tracking him for a different division of Starfleet. Because the majority of his life has been spent in civilian functions, Lieutenant is not yet well-acclimated to the professional culture of Starfleet, and has already unknowingly committed several breaches of professional etiquette in his role on the Inopia -- this behavior is not a reflection of intentional malice, but rather a combination of Lieutenant Zeyar's previous lack of experience and his natural tendency to a slightly stand-offish social persona. However, some of the other staff of the Inopia, none of whom know him well, have interpreted this behavior as a dismissive disregard for an storied organization that he has been an officer within for only a few months. Beneath this slightly awkward exterior are several driving motivations -- Lieutenant Zeyar wants to prove himself in a mission role, and is curious about the archaeological ruins. Additionally, he is genuinely curious about Starfleet, despite his breaches of professional decorum. Though he has not mentioned it, he has already had the sense he might stay on in the service beyond this expedition, whereas he originally conceived of it as a brief divertissement to escape some personal and professional difficulties that have recently arisen in his life (see below). However, the impression many members of the staff will have is that Lieutenant Zeyar is simply a tourist or happy weather visitor with an undeserved post who will return to civilian life the moment he steps off the Inopia after the mission has been completed.
Lieutenant Zeyar is of Chinese and Burmese ethnicity, and has the good looks of a male model (some representative models: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUYq0e3aMAAdz06?format=jpg&name=large or https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/myanmar-model-turned-political-prison er-paing-takhon-named-worlds-most-handsome-face-2021). He has dark, short hair that is exceptionally healthy and lush -- he often gets compliments on it. Lieutenant Zeyar also has colorful tattoos, though these are mostly covered by his uniform. These body decorations reflect the martial arts tradition in which he was inducted by his uncle. Lieutenant Zeyar is slightly standoffish, though not rude, just slightly frigid. He doesn't have a great deal of experience on missions, so he's slightly unsure how to interact socially with longtime crewmembers and career Starfleet officers. This has already led to some breaches of etiquette. Lieutenant Zeyar has a verbal habit which many of his coworkers find abrasive -- he tends to speak in long paragraphs, half to himself, and to continue through attempts to interrupt his stream of self-talk. This is also sometimes a social shield in uncomfortable social circumstances, such as if his interlocutor is attempting to confront him about a failing, etc.
*Wide languages ability: Lieutenant Zeyar can read/write/speak at a university level the following Earth languages: English (Singaporean/RP accent), Burmese, Mandarin (can't read Classical texts easily) and, at a middle school level, Hokkien. However, he can additionally, read, write, or speak, with some level of proficiency (a couple phrases to full fluency), all the major non-human languages of the Federation languages listed at bottom of this wiki page: https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Federation_Standard. Lieutenant Zeyar has an IQ of about 150-160 (over the 99th percentil). Diplomatic experience: Lieutenant Zeyar has served as a diplomatic translator for the Federation Council during the negotiations that ended the Bajoran War of Independence, and led to the establishment of a Federation presence at Terok Nor (i.e., DS-9). This experience has given Lieutenant Zeyar contacts with high-level officials in the Federation that may prove useful -- it was instrumental, for example, in securing Lieutenant Zeyar his post on the Inopia. *Martial arts: Lieutenant Zeyar is trainined in Lethwei (Burmese boxing). This is not an ability that Lieutenant Zeyar advertises, and will be a surprise when he initially uses it in a potential combat situation. When Lieutenant Zeyar trains, he does so, by himself, on the holodeck, or in his quarters. This is an art which Lieutenant Zeyar first learned from a beloved uncle, now deceased, and which is, for him, something of a private matter/personal experience. He is not a champion, but is competent to compete in an MMA contest, and to overpower many opponents who do not have similar training.
*Explore ruins/learn new languages: Lieutenant Zeyar is interested in potentially deciphering any written records in the archeological ruins. He has been interested in manuscript studies since his days in university. One of his major term papers was on a previously unknown Prakrit text of the extinct old-Earth Ajivika religion. *Prove himself on a mission: Lieutenant Zeyar does not have a considerable amount of mission experience. Prior to his current foray into Starfleet operations, Lieutenant Zeyar mainly worked in academics and as an attaché to various politicians and officials on the Federation Council. Lieutenant Zeyar has only visited other worlds on brief diplomatic trips, and has never before been a part of an extended mission on one vessel where he was a formal member of the crew. Nevertheless, he wants to prove himself in a more extended mission to long-standing crew. Lieutenant Zeyar anticipates that some will view his appointment to his post, without the expected previous Starfleet experience, as a reflection of political connections from his previous professional life. There is some truth to this concern. However, Lieutenant Zeyar wants to prove that his abilities are equal to the task, and will even be an important asset to the mission. Some of his recent attempts to demonstrate his language abilities have come off as expressions of arrogance as opposed to his sincere attempt connect with his coworkers on the mission goals. New boyfriend: Lieutenant Zeyar is currently single, having recently had a difficult separation from a partner at Starfleet. In fact, one reason he wanted to go on the mission is to get away from this relationship. Lieutenant Zeyar is open to having a new boyfriend sometime during the mission, but is also guarded about his emotions, having had relationship difficulties in the past.
*His uncle is his biological father: Lieutenant Zeyar's uncle, his father's older brother, had an affair with his mother right before the wedding ceremony. Lieutenant Zeyar doesn't currently know this, but his sister does. *Lieutenant Zeyar was visited by a Tal Shiar agent while an exotranslator: the Romulan spy was seeking to influence Federation business. Though he did not accept the offer, Lieutenant Zeyar also didn't report all the details to his superiors, as he thought it might compromise his position. Lieutenant Zeyar doesn't want to reveal this because he had a romantic relationship with the Romulan, who was posing as Vulcan science officer -- he left out that detail in his report. Lieutenant Zeyar has a habit of bringing sensitive work to his quarters, and has been reprimanded for this behavior in the past. He views these restrictions as pointless micro-managing, and would prefer to do his work in the comfort of his own quarters. However, the Romulan spy took advantage of his continued cavalier attitude about these restrictions, and stole some important documents about Cardassian military capacities. Lieutenant Zeyar did not report the theft of these documents as he took them, without asking, from a colleague, because he believed he possessed greater insight, as well as reading ability in official Cardassian legalese. His coworker was punished in his stead, and Lieutenant Zeyar is concerned that, if the truth were to come out, it might end his career. He struggles with intense guilt about the entire episode, and is trying to pull strings with some of his diplomatic contacts to get his friend pardoned and/or reinstated, but is still reluctant to own up to his own role in the affair, since it might severely compromise his own position. *Lieutenant Zeyar has a crush on a Vulcan officer on the Inopia who works in engineering: he doesn't know how to go about expressing this, or if the interest in mutual; he doesn't talk about this sort of thing with anyone on the ship, but might acquire a confidant of this sort during the course of the mission. His 'type' is Vulcan/Romulan, though he has had relationships with other kinds of men. ---------------------------------
*His uncle/martial arts teacher: Lieutenant Zeyar's uncle taught him Burmese boxing had connections to a Triad-like organization. He is dimly aware of this, but not the fact that his family member had unpaid debts. This organization may have connections to foreign powers like the Tal Shiar or the Obsidian Order, or may try to blackmail Lieutenant Zeyar at some point. *His last boyfriend was Matthew Enfield, the Commander of a Hawkeye Class vessel: Commander Enfield may be patrolling the same region, unknown to Lieutenant Zeyar, which may result in an awkward encounter. *Lieutenant Zeyar previous Vulcan professor: this individual is one of the current exolinguists/archeologists at the colony. Lieutenant Zeyar is not aware of this, because the professor has left academia for unknown reasons.
Lieutenant Htun Khaing Mg Zeyar was born in 2326 in the city of New Yangon. He lived for a year in a monastery run by a Buddhist-successor organization that preserves some elements of Theravada Buddhism, but dispensed with almost all supernatural elements, and which began to take shape after the Eugenics Wars. This experience has led him to have a continuing academic interest in ascetic Old Earth traditions like Jainism and Ajivika, the latter which he wrote a paper about in a Master's program. This interest sometimes is expressed when he draws on ancient philosophy to answer contemporary moral and ethical questions. Lieutenant Zeyar might mention, for example, that these traditions considered flora to possess a degree of animacy when debating issues around environmentalism with other crew members. Lieutenant Zeyar has a sister who works as a medical officer on a ship in the Bajoran sector, and who participated in the war for Bajoran War of Independence. He admires her as a more principled selfless individual than he has ever yet managed to be. Lieutenant Zeyar's father died very young under mysterious circumstances, and his uncle assumed a father-like position in his life. Lieutenant Zeyar;s uncle is actually his biological father, which he does not know. His mother is still living. Lieutenant Zeyar studied exolinguistics at the Univeristy of Tokyo and Harvard University. He has a BA in communications studies and exolinguistics and an MA in exolinguistics. During his studies at Harvard, Lieutenant Zeyar became the student of a professor who translated treaty documents for the Federation Council. This academic connection led to Lieutenant Zeyar first professional experience as an exotranslator. Though he has studied with some famous researchers, he personally has no interest in the publishing/research side of academia besides preparing essentially governmental reports -- if he uncovers something at the archaeological dig, Lieutenant Zeyar will write a brief for Federation Council ministers, but he won't have any desire to publish it in an academic journal, though he would help some of his friends and colleagues to do so. Lieutenant Zeyar is interested in the subject for professional and relational/social reasons, not to create grammars or publish academic writing. He does have a sincere, though not academic, interest in ancient philosophy. |
