Kimelea

Kimelea is a shy but wilful young Gorvan Horansi with an exceptional talent for close combat. She is currently the Head of Security on the CDU Navy's flagship, the CMS Typhoon, with a rank of Lieutenant Commander.

See also: Kimelea (user page).

Name
Kimelea's name is derived from a Horansi word meaning 'wildflower'. (OOCly it is a Swahili word from East Africa.) To Basic-speaking tongues, it is pronounced 'kee-meh-LAY-ah'. The abbreviated nickname 'Kime' is pronounced 'KEE-may' or 'KEE-meh' - it absolutely does not rhyme with 'time'!

Youth
Kimelea was born approximately two years ABY in galactic terms. Like all Gorvans, she was born of noble blood. Although not the daughter of a Nkosi (chief) herself, she had been promised at a young age to a male who many believed would rise to lead the Lovadu clan.

The clan lived the traditional life of the Horansi - a caste-bound, tribal existence which, aside from small-scale clan warfare and rivalry for positions of power, was largely peaceful. The young Kimelea Lovadu was raised according to the oldest traditions of her people: to live off the land using only her own resources; to tame and ride native beasts; to see without being seen; to be equally proficient in the hunt with spear and claw.

For her early childhood, Kimelea's tribe was ignorant of and therefore largely unconcerned about the presence of Kimach (non-Horansi outsiders) on Mutanda. Starships glimpsed in orbit were regarded with curiosity but not concern. It was not until word of the Second Battle of Mutanda in 11 ABY reached the tribe, during Kimelea's late adolescence, that life suddenly changed.

Believing that the Horansi should understand the invading Kimach, better to judge them as friends or foes, the Nkosi naïvely ordered the relocation of the tribe to near Dagia. By the time the Lovadu reached the Kimach city, the war had already been lost and the CSA had taken over the planet. Insidious oppression and exploitation were difficult concepts for the primitives to understand. Tribal values soon began to erode as many members of the clan accepted some of the conveniences of modern life, not realising the price that was already being paid: autonomy. From the invaders, Kimelea learned that the world was round and only one of thousands. She learned to speak elementary Basic and comprehend the idea of a written language. She learned about Kimach crafts - their weapons and ships - and a little of galactic politics. However, the move also had the unfortunate effect of bringing the clan directly into the line of fire of the CSA.

Escape
Resistance to the invaders continued from many clans, but when high Nkosi K'tyyri Tarashabi was exiled from the planet, it became disorganised and easily quashed. One day in 12 ABY, Kimelea travelled to the savannah to hunt alone, one of the preparations for the rite that would allow her adulthood to be recognised. She returned to a scene of devastation. The CSA had struck against the Horansi of Dagia, not discriminating between tribes, but hitting the heirarchical structure in a critial place: its dissident and neutral male Gorvans. Without their leadership, the Kimach hoped, the Horansi of the lesser castes would have no choice but to shift their loyalty to the invaders.

Kimelea returned to bloodied walls and blackened corpses, with not a single living Gorvan to be seen. Had she known that the females had merely run and hidden, she would have searched for them and remained with them; but as it was, she followed an urging instinct to flee, to take the chance of coming back to fight another day. Not to the savannah, where she believed echoes of her family and Kimach hunters would always haunt her, but away on a shuttle with other panicked refugees who launched themselves into space in the desperate hope of finding something in the Kimach galaxy - for many it was simply freedom, but for some it was death, and for a few such as Kimelea it was revenge. She resolved to find the one Kimach responsible for this atrocity and inflict on him the pain she now felt herself.

However, Kime left with nothing but her grief and rage and the primitive clothing on her back. She quickly discovered, as the refugees scattered to the stars, that the galaxy was huge beyond her imagination. She could not possibly hope to find her human target without aid, and besides, there was the increasingly pressing matter of her own survival. She was told of a neutral planet sympathetic to the plight of the oppressed, and so found her way to Caspar.

Here, for the first time, fortune - or the Force - smiled on Kime. When the shuttle arrived, Camrath Kizuka was there. With him was a Shistavanen boy, Ullan, whose very presence riled Kime at first with a deep, primitive loathing. However, Kime was young and open-minded enough to accept at least the principle of living side-by-side with Kimach.

When Kizuka offered the nervous young cat shelter with his group of travelling adventurers, the Foresworn, Kimelea took the risk and accepted.

The Foresworn days
Kimelea quickly became a valued member of the Foresworn crew, adapting her hunting skills to the requirements of fighting other sentients. Thanks largely to Kizuka's gentle patience and the determined warmth of his adopted son Ullan, her principled hatred of Kimach simmered down to an automatic mistrust that could be overcome by individuals. Indeed, she became quite fond of the little family at the group's heart.

However, in 13 ABY, Kizuka's wife Sapphire Jones disappeared and was subsequently executed amid rumours of affairs. A devastated Camrath found comfort from Kimelea, who knew too well the pain of losing those closest to one's heart.

However, she had come to the Foresworn during its last days. When the Empire placed a bounty on Camrath Kizuka's head and the New Republic refused asylum for his actions as an Imperial officer, the group fled to Caspar, where the CDU offered Camrath a senior position in the Navy. The Foresworn disbanded, but Kimelea chose to accept a naval commission as well, seeing the opportunity to gather resources for her ultimate goal as well as remaining close to the human male to whom she owed her loyalty.

Aboard the Typhoon
Kizuka was made Captain of the Navy's flagship, the CMS Typhoon, and Kimelea was granted the role of Head of Security on the ship with a rank of Sub-Lieutenant. At first Kime found the stationary, ship-bound life demoralising and the work taxing, with her limited grasp of Basic and lack of leadership experience working against her. Even in her free time, she had to devote much effort to teaching herself to read - which never came naturally to her - and learning to use foreign technology such as blasters.

During her early years with the CDU, Kimelea participated in several away missions, lending her close-combat skills and experience with policing both to mysteries such as the CCS Caspian Queen affair and providing specialised support to the Marines in engagements such as the Mikassa Incident.

Her efforts paid off and her progress through the ranks was steady, with Kime reaching her full mature height of almost nine feet around the same time as receiving her promotion to Lt Commander.

Caspar became Kime's home away from home, its forests and prairies the places of solace she chose during shore leave. She learned to understand the language of the Sarians, although rarely choosing to speak it, and to appreciate the simple beauty of their worship of the elements.

Personal life
Shortly after taking up their CDU commissions, Kimelea and the much older Camrath Kizuka began to develop an unorthodox but powerful relationship founded on respect and understanding. Although the relationship is not kept secret, neither has it been formally announced; it has always remained in the realms of doubt as far as the rumour goes because its extremely unusual and controversial cross-species nature makes it scarcely believable to many. However, Caspian gossip columns did report in 13 ABY that Kimelea's name had replaced Sapphire's on Ullan's adoption papers.

That same year, Kime returned to Mutanda - its native population then in a state of reluctant truce with the CSA - with the intention of showing the fragments of her old life to Kizuka. To her astonishment she found her mother Elanor alive and well, leading the mostly-female remnants of the Lovadu clan, who were still living in their old settlement on the fringe of Dagia.

The discovery delighted but also seriously rattled Kimelea, who now found her loyalty pulled two ways. However, it quickly became clear that only one of her two families would accept her for who she was. Elanor's joy at seeing her daughter again rapidly dissolved into accusations of betrayal for leaving in the first place, and worse was to come when an angry Camrath revealed their relationship.

Kimelea was branded perverted and brainwashed. In a misguided attempt to bring her daughter back to the fold, Elanor tried to have Kizuka killed by arranging a bare-handed duel with a Kasa warrior who was thought to be unbeatable. Camrath won that fight with the aid of servos in his bionic arm, but the strain fried the prosthetic and he collapsed of exhaustion. His honour served, Kimelea moved in to defend him, gathering the human protectively into her arms and starting to carry him away. Furious, Elanor disowned Kimelea and ordered her exiled from the tribe.

Accordingly, Kimelea dropped the clan designation Lovadu from her name and since has insisted on going by her given name only. Elanor eventually mellowed and regretted her angry words, resulting in a reunion between mother and daughter on slightly better terms, but Kime refuses to rejoin the tribe. She is currently taking an extended leave of absence on her home planet to prepare for a formal union with Camrath Kizuka.

Personality and Values
Among Kimach strangers, Kimelea is naturally shy and wary. She tends not to trust without good reason, although once earned, her loyalty is almost unshakable. Having set her mind to something she is determined and stubborn in seeing it through, and though it takes a lot to rile her beyond the realm of her own control, she has a fearsome temper once aroused. Despite her issues with Horansi kneejerk condemnation of all things foreign, Kime is proud of her feline heritage and cares deeply about the fate of her home planet. Kime values honour, dignity and justice, and the protection of innocent life. She considers fighting and killing valid ways to achieve these goals, and believes in merciless treatment of the guilty proportionate to their crime.

Skills
As a cub, Kimelea was trained diligently in the use of both melee weapons and her own unencumbered body to bring down prey. Close combat, whether deadly or merely for the honour, is an art she has continued to hone since leaving Mutanda, finding it one of the most exciting pleasures of life. When fighting she runs on adrenaline, making it difficult for her to spar dispassionately. Although she has had to expand her horizons to include training in other areas, duelling remains her one indulgence. Kimelea is the 15 ABY Corellian Champion of brawling.

''OOC Note: I plan on making this a lot prettier when I'm able. Comments welcome! --Kimelea 18:31, 27 July 2006 (UTC)''