Player Name: Famine E-mail: nova.puppets@gmail.com Preferred Contact:novatierrie, discord: timeskips#3493 Timezone: Central Current Characters in Victory Road: Estinien Wyrmblood
Character Name: Elim Garak Series: Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Timeline: After Way of the Warrior Canon Resource Links:Garak @ Memory Alpha A Stitch in Time @ Memory Beta (extended universe novel based on the characterization bible written by Andy Robinson, Garak's actor, which he used as background for Garak while playing him and was approved by series writers, therefore I'm using it as back story)
Personality: "Truth, doctor, is in the eye of the beholder! I never tell the truth because I don't believe there is such a thing."
Garak is a complicated man wearing the mask and mannerisms of a plain, simple man. As he likes to emphasize. That's just the first lie he tells.
Garak is a man who's built his persona, and indeed his entire life, on a web of lies. He doesn't particularly care to keep them all straight, either--he doesn't care if people think he's a liar, or to gain their trust. Cardassian society is built on a complicated social expectation that every member of that society exists to serve the State, then the family, then themselves--Garak spent many years serving both. First, he was a member of the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian intelligence arm that is notorious in-universe for being methodical, cruel, and above all horrifyingly competent in the actions they take. Garak was considered extremely good at his job, which was to torture and assassinate in service of the Cardassian State. This also happened to be serving his family, as the leader of the Obsidian Order is his father. It's important to realize for his character that Garak is utterly devoted to Cardassia, first and foremost. His loyalty to his homeland is what drives everything he does, even if it's to his own detriment. Cardassians are also generally very insular and even xenophobic--Garak is not quite, though he does think that Cardassia is the most beautiful place, that its art is the deepest and most meaningful.
It's important to his character to keep in mind what Cardassia is--a world controlled by a fascist government where loyalty to the State is practically a religion. (There's a reason I keep capitalizing it.) Garak has been happily indoctrinated with the idea that loyalty to his world means doing anything--and I mean anything--to benefit it. He thinks little to nothing of performing torture and assassination in the service to his homeland, because that is the highest power he can serve and it's the greatest possible honor to be useful to the State.
Then, he got exiled. Garak never lets on exactly what it is that got him exiled, some of his stories involve compassion for Bajoran victims of the Cardassian occupation of their homeworld, feeling that his orders to torture and execute children on the eve of Cardassian withdrawal to be pointless. (Not cruel, not wrong, simply pointless.) Another story involves betraying a 'friend', and yet another to be accidentally killing a high ranking Cardassian official. At least two of these stories involve some regret and imply that, in his deepest heart, he didn't think that the actions of the Occupation were completely justified.
(I do want to emphasize, that even if he did think this, he still carried them out. Garak is very much not a good person. And that, if asked, he will say of course they were justified.)
In reality, it was because he was carrying on an affair with an old classmate, and refused to end it when Tain commanded him--showing that buried optimist and romantic deep beneath the surface. As he says, he always hopes for the best, but experience, unfortunately, has taught him to always expect the worst. He's nostalgic for the old days and it blinds him to the fact that Cardassia has changed, and is not what he thought it was anymore. He has slowly started
Garak was left on the station as Cardassian forces withdrew, and wrapped himself further in the persona of a simple tailor to protect himself as he adjusted to life surrounded by enemies. He projects as non-threatening, because his life depends on it, but also because he misleads people as a way of life. He judiciously collects and collates all the rumors and whispers he can find, using them to discern his worldview. He first approaches Julian Bashir as a Starfleet contact because he thought the doctor would be a light touch, and he's mostly right on that--his training as an Obsidian Order operative has taught him how to read people, how to manipulate and use people, and how to hurt people. He can be so terrifying that all he has to do is look at someone and they break.
Conversations with him can be a minefield. Sometimes he tosses out little conversational pearls of lies built around a grain of truth, or just...outright avoidance, like saying he learned Klingon because you'd be surprised what you pick up while hemming pants. But sometimes he's brutally, cruelly honest. Whatever will benefit him most in the moment. Even if he's caught in a lie, he doesn't let that faze him--he's actually proud when someone calls him out on it, most of the time.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Rocket Starter: Sandile (level 15), Salandit (level 5) Password: Atomic Fireball
Victory Road Sample: The first thing Garak registered when coming out of sleep was voices--unfamiliar ones, in his vicinity, clear as could be. He could make out the words they were saying, as he concentrated on them a bit--talking about 'The Boss,' 'Pokemon', quotas.
The words were meaningless, but the fact that there were people in the same room as him speaking them was less so. Garak could count on one finger the number of people he had allowed into his quarters since the Cardassian withdrawal, and Doctor Bashir's voice was not among those speaking. He laid silent and frozen until he could hear a door opening--one with hinges, even, there was no rush of an automated door--and closing, before throwing off his thin blanket and sitting up.
And staring at the pale peach flesh and stubby human nails on his hand.
Then bringing that hand up to prod at the skin above his eyes--finding fine hairs instead of hard scales, following what should have been the ridges over his eye up into his hair, then down to his neck. His soft, narrow, vulnerable human neck.
Troubling. Very troubling. And him with no way to tell whether this is a simulation or not, no familiar faces, and no allies. Well, the last two are nothing new, he'll just have to start again.
He puts all that aside for the moment and gets up to investigate the room--the note on the desk attracting his attention first. He reads it quickly, and looks at the two red and white balls placed on top of a folded uniform. After a few moments, he picks one of them up and scrutinizes it, then presses the button in the center, watching as it pops open and a white light from it coalesces into the shape of a small black lizard on the ground that looks up at him and flicks its little pink tongue.
"Well, my little friend, it seems that you and I have a lot to talk about."
Time to gather information. With hope, his erstwhile 'trainers' will forgive an older man a bit of time to acclimate to his new surroundings.
Elim Garak | Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Name: Famine
E-mail: nova.puppets@gmail.com
Preferred Contact:
Timezone: Central
Current Characters in Victory Road: Estinien Wyrmblood
Character
Name: Elim Garak
Series: Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Timeline: After Way of the Warrior
Canon Resource Links: Garak @ Memory Alpha
A Stitch in Time @ Memory Beta (extended universe novel based on the characterization bible written by Andy Robinson, Garak's actor, which he used as background for Garak while playing him and was approved by series writers, therefore I'm using it as back story)
Personality:
"Truth, doctor, is in the eye of the beholder! I never tell the truth because I don't believe there is such a thing."
Garak is a complicated man wearing the mask and mannerisms of a plain, simple man. As he likes to emphasize. That's just the first lie he tells.
Garak is a man who's built his persona, and indeed his entire life, on a web of lies. He doesn't particularly care to keep them all straight, either--he doesn't care if people think he's a liar, or to gain their trust. Cardassian society is built on a complicated social expectation that every member of that society exists to serve the State, then the family, then themselves--Garak spent many years serving both. First, he was a member of the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian intelligence arm that is notorious in-universe for being methodical, cruel, and above all horrifyingly competent in the actions they take. Garak was considered extremely good at his job, which was to torture and assassinate in service of the Cardassian State. This also happened to be serving his family, as the leader of the Obsidian Order is his father. It's important to realize for his character that Garak is utterly devoted to Cardassia, first and foremost. His loyalty to his homeland is what drives everything he does, even if it's to his own detriment. Cardassians are also generally very insular and even xenophobic--Garak is not quite, though he does think that Cardassia is the most beautiful place, that its art is the deepest and most meaningful.
It's important to his character to keep in mind what Cardassia is--a world controlled by a fascist government where loyalty to the State is practically a religion. (There's a reason I keep capitalizing it.) Garak has been happily indoctrinated with the idea that loyalty to his world means doing anything--and I mean anything--to benefit it. He thinks little to nothing of performing torture and assassination in the service to his homeland, because that is the highest power he can serve and it's the greatest possible honor to be useful to the State.
Then, he got exiled. Garak never lets on exactly what it is that got him exiled, some of his stories involve compassion for Bajoran victims of the Cardassian occupation of their homeworld, feeling that his orders to torture and execute children on the eve of Cardassian withdrawal to be pointless. (Not cruel, not wrong, simply pointless.) Another story involves betraying a 'friend', and yet another to be accidentally killing a high ranking Cardassian official. At least two of these stories involve some regret and imply that, in his deepest heart, he didn't think that the actions of the Occupation were completely justified.
(I do want to emphasize, that even if he did think this, he still carried them out. Garak is very much not a good person. And that, if asked, he will say of course they were justified.)
In reality, it was because he was carrying on an affair with an old classmate, and refused to end it when Tain commanded him--showing that buried optimist and romantic deep beneath the surface. As he says, he always hopes for the best, but experience, unfortunately, has taught him to always expect the worst. He's nostalgic for the old days and it blinds him to the fact that Cardassia has changed, and is not what he thought it was anymore. He has slowly started
Garak was left on the station as Cardassian forces withdrew, and wrapped himself further in the persona of a simple tailor to protect himself as he adjusted to life surrounded by enemies. He projects as non-threatening, because his life depends on it, but also because he misleads people as a way of life. He judiciously collects and collates all the rumors and whispers he can find, using them to discern his worldview. He first approaches Julian Bashir as a Starfleet contact because he thought the doctor would be a light touch, and he's mostly right on that--his training as an Obsidian Order operative has taught him how to read people, how to manipulate and use people, and how to hurt people. He can be so terrifying that all he has to do is look at someone and they break.
Conversations with him can be a minefield. Sometimes he tosses out little conversational pearls of lies built around a grain of truth, or just...outright avoidance, like saying he learned Klingon because you'd be surprised what you pick up while hemming pants. But sometimes he's brutally, cruelly honest. Whatever will benefit him most in the moment. Even if he's caught in a lie, he doesn't let that faze him--he's actually proud when someone calls him out on it, most of the time.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Rocket
Starter: Sandile (level 15), Salandit (level 5)
Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples
RP Sample: TDM thread
Victory Road Sample:
The first thing Garak registered when coming out of sleep was voices--unfamiliar ones, in his vicinity, clear as could be. He could make out the words they were saying, as he concentrated on them a bit--talking about 'The Boss,' 'Pokemon', quotas.
The words were meaningless, but the fact that there were people in the same room as him speaking them was less so. Garak could count on one finger the number of people he had allowed into his quarters since the Cardassian withdrawal, and Doctor Bashir's voice was not among those speaking. He laid silent and frozen until he could hear a door opening--one with hinges, even, there was no rush of an automated door--and closing, before throwing off his thin blanket and sitting up.
And staring at the pale peach flesh and stubby human nails on his hand.
Then bringing that hand up to prod at the skin above his eyes--finding fine hairs instead of hard scales, following what should have been the ridges over his eye up into his hair, then down to his neck. His soft, narrow, vulnerable human neck.
Troubling. Very troubling. And him with no way to tell whether this is a simulation or not, no familiar faces, and no allies. Well, the last two are nothing new, he'll just have to start again.
He puts all that aside for the moment and gets up to investigate the room--the note on the desk attracting his attention first. He reads it quickly, and looks at the two red and white balls placed on top of a folded uniform. After a few moments, he picks one of them up and scrutinizes it, then presses the button in the center, watching as it pops open and a white light from it coalesces into the shape of a small black lizard on the ground that looks up at him and flicks its little pink tongue.
"Well, my little friend, it seems that you and I have a lot to talk about."
Time to gather information. With hope, his erstwhile 'trainers' will forgive an older man a bit of time to acclimate to his new surroundings.