Tleilic Is-Iadrig Ir-Zhref was sired by Tsanom Is-Ous Ir-Beirad on Relhau, who gave birth to him on the Tribe's home planet of Vriunac, a longstanding Rigelian colony in the Archanis Sector, near the Klingon border. His matron, Rear Admiral Shaurin, who had recently retired to Vriunac after a commendable career in Starfleet Intelligence, nurtured him for approximately three years. For the following seven years, he was under the care of his pedagogues, Heutchin and Semad. Having a curious and analytical mind, and having inherited an affinity for off-world living from his matron, he was then sent off-world with his preceptor, then Lieutenant Commander Fraulirei, a data analyst on the Xarantine Stellar Array. During his preceptorship, Tleilic learned a great deal both about computer science and sensor technology. Shortly after arriving, he became acquainted with Amreitam Is-Lor, whose preceptor was on the medical staff at the nearby Xarantine Station. The two quickly became close friends, and kept in touch even when, about four years later, Amreitam left to begin his mentorship. About a year and a half after Amreitam's departure, Tleilic, having developed an interest in the parallels between sensor technology and biological perception, left to begin his own mentorship with Zhauc Is-Lor, a professor of Neurology at the Science Academy of Deneb IV.

Tleilic applied to and was accepted to Starfleet Academy roughly two years later. Amreitam had already been attending the Academy for two years when Tleilic arrived. Tleilic majored in Computer Science and Cognitive Neuroscience. Amreitam completed a two-year Nursing program at Starfleet Medical following the Academy, allowing them to complete their educations at the same time. Shortly following graduation, they were granted a leave to return to Vriunac to be bonded and transition to the Sower phase of the Rigelian life cycle before both being posted as Ensigns to the USS Galaxy. Tleilic was posted as an engineer focusing on sensors, and Amreitam was posted the medical staff.

Tleilic is a generally amiable, fairly laid-back person. He is extremely social, preferring company to solitude in almost all aspects of his life other than personal mediation. He is fascinated by the differences between alien species and loves learning about both alien biologies and cultures. He can become upset at people who display what he perceives as blatant, ignorant speciesism or racism, either by assuming that others will or ought to see and react to the universe the same way that they do, or by assuming that all members of a given race or species will or ought to share the same views. He is, however, sometimes guilty of this type of behavior himself as he is extremely inquisitive and sometimes asks questions that others might find taboo.

Tleilic has a very close relationship with his bondmate, Amreitam, to whom he feels his first and most important loyalty is owed. One of the few ways to make Tleilic truly angry is to hurt Amreitam. He is similarly extremely devoted to his tribe. While he enjoys living among aliens, being so removed from his tribe is sometimes very difficult for him. All things being equal, if the needs of his bondmate or tribe ever conflicted with his duty to Starfleet, Tleilic would choose the former without hesitation.

Rigelian Info:

Anatomy and Biology

Rigelians are a humanoid species originating on Rigel V, a largely arid planet. Much of their evolution was shaped by xerocoline adaptation, and so they are most comfortable in environments that are hotter and more arid than the average for humanoid species.

Rigelian skin is generally fairly tough and leathery and varies in color depending on lineage from reddish brown to chalky tan. The skin also includes an extensive system of tiny hygroscopic grooves, which absorb any moisture that comes in contact with them and slowly channels it to the mouth through capillation. At maximum capacity, a Rigelian can carry as much as five percent of his body weight in water in this system. The palms of the hand, balls of the feet, and underside of the toes contain hundreds of millions of dry-adhesive setae (about 15,000 per square millimeter), which provide more than ample adhesion to allow a Rigelian freedom of movement while suspended by two limbs from most surfaces at typical M-class gravities (certain polymers engineered to resist van der Waal interactions are the only stable substances that do not adhere to the setae). Rigelians in circumstances where adhesion is not desired are required to wear special gloves and/or socks.

Rigelian's do not have biological gender as an individual characteristic, but rather the role one can play in the reproductive process and in the rearing of children is a characteristic of instar, or lifestage. Barring physiological complications or premature death, every individual Rigelian will pass through all eight instars in turn, three of which involve passing genetic material to offspring.

There are four instars before sexually maturity, which are transitioned through via molting, and involve relatively few physiological differences. The rate at which an individual passes through these stages is largely determined by external factors such as diet, and so the stages can be prolonged or abbreviated deliberately. During the first instar, the child is typically nourished mamarilly by an individual in the final instar (the only instar with mammary glands); this nourishment provides genetic material (more information below). Because of the lack of stark physiological differences in these instars and a heightened ability to acquire new information and skills during all four instars, Rigelians refer these sexually immature instars collectively as the Learner stage, but the level and type of care and supervision given to them is different from instar to instar.

All subsequent instar transitions are made through actual metamorphosis, which requires conscious initiation and is typically (and most safely) achieved in pairs. When a pair of Rigelians goes through the first metamorphosis, they become permanently bonded, sharing a lifelong telepathic link that is biologically based and irrevocable. Future metamorphoses can only be achieved with the original bondmate (or attempted individually in extreme cases).

The first sexually mature instar is the Sower stage. Individuals in this stage are capable of siring offspring, but fertility is governed by an oestrus cycle. The oestrus cycle is characterized by an ancestral period of many months in which the individual is infertile. During the succeeding proestrus period, hormones are released which cause the gonads to become more active, preparing for the production of gametes. The increased hormonal levels also cause the individual to respond to the pheromones of potential sexual partners. While the proestrus period can be maintained indefinitely, hormonal levels continue to rise throughout it and the instinctual desire to reproduce becomes increasingly urgent. The act of copulation triggers the transition into the estrus stage, which lasts approximately two weeks. During this time, gametes are produced and the reproductive drive is extremely strong. Following this stage, hormone levels gradually decrease and the individual returns to the ancestral period. While there is considerable individual variation, after roughly a dozen oestrus cycles, the Sower will enter a period of relative menopause, during which hormone production prepares the body for metamorphosis.

The subsequent instar, the Bearer stage, is characterized principally by the ability to be impregnated and carry a child to term. A very similar oestrus cycle is involved in this stage, with the only significant difference being that transition into the anestral period can of course be interrupted by a gestational period. The number of oestrus cycles is similarly limited by an eventual menopause, preparatory to the subsequent metamorphosis.

The Instructor stage, which follows, doesn't contribute any genetic material to offspring, but is characterized by an instinct towards child-rearing. This stage is typically the longest one, although the amount of time spent as an Instructor can vary quite a bit. The transition to a point where an Instructor can metamorphose into the final instar is pheromonally governed. Individuals in the subsequent and final instar produce a pheromone to which Instructors are receptive that slows the rate at which this transition occurs. In "ideal" circumstances, this slowing pheromone is regularly present and the transition proceeds at a rate that is gradual enough to avoid complications. If all has gone well, the individual will be biologically prepared for the next metamorphosis after several decades as an Instructor. However, in the absence of the pheromone, the transition will occur much more quickly. The faster it must proceed, the more likely it is that there will be problems that will prevent the individual from ever being able to metamorphose. Historically, this made the speed at which Instructors transitioned to the next stage dependent on the how many individuals in the community were already in the final instar, militating against either a surplus or shortage of that stage. Modern technology allows for medical control of the rate at which Instructors progress towards metamorphosis.

Rigelians in the final instar, called the Nurturer stage, have mammary glands that allow them to nurse, and a strong instinct towards the care of the very young. Rigelian physiology is designed such that certain strong habits, routines, and propensities (both mental and physical), are genetically encoded during the transition into the Nurturer stage. These codes are present in the milk of nursing Rigelians, and over the course of nursing a random assortment of those traits will be passed on to the infant Rigelian. Thus, proclivities that have been developed over the course of an individual's entire lifetime can be preserved in the following generation. This genetic material, while generally quite beneficial, is not biologically necessary.

Despite the many differences, much of Rigelian internal anatomy is extremely similar to that of Vulcans (among other species). They share copper-based blood types, and many of their internal organs are sufficiently comparable that they are suitable for transplant between species. Their neurology is similar enough that they share the potential for virtually the same mental abilities and disorders. Despite this, the reproductive strategies are sufficiently different that true interbreeding is likely impossible, although very few attempts have been made.

The spectrum Rigelian vision spans from the yellow into the near ultraviolet and is aided by pit sensors that have the ability to detect infrared radiation with limited resolution. The pit sensors do not detect absolute frequency or intensity of radiation, responding rather to differences from the average ambient intensity across most of the near infrared spectrum.

Rigelian hearing is similarly bifurcated in that their range of normal hearing is considerably smaller than that of most humanoid species and is tuned somewhat higher than normal. They do, however, have a high sensitivity to lower frequency vibrations transmitted through their skeletal system. In practice, this means that they can clearly 'hear' vibrations in the ground as long as they are in physical contact with it; and the sense improved with additional contact (As an aside, this can make life quite difficult for Rigelians on non-Rigelian starships, which do not tend to dampen the vibrations of the ship's engines and other machinery sufficiently for Rigelian comfort).

Society and Culture

Rigelians, like Humans, developed a wide range of cultures on their home planet, and began colonizing other worlds many centuries ago, before any single philosophy or ideology could gain anything approaching species-wide acceptance. However, certain aspects of Rigelian life are sufficiently tied into biological factors, or have been sufficiently historically pervasive, that certain generalities can be reasonably applied the species as a whole.

Bonding, a biological imperative for metamorphosis also has an important social role. Rigelian bonded pairs are typically treated as a fundamental unit of society, with many similarities to mated pairs in many cultures: they live together, hold property in common, and have claim on one another for material and emotional support. However, bonding is not the creation of a mating pair (both partners will always be in the same instar and therefore incapable of mating with each other) and while they tend to have a very close, intimate relationship, it is not a sexual relationship. The method of selecting of a bondmate varies among cultures, ranging from being entirely a matter of personal choice to being entirely determined by others.

While the Sower and Bearer stages of Rigelian life include an instinctual reproductive impulse, they have no parental instinct to speak of. So, while an individual knows who his "dam" and "sire" are, neither conceiving parent plays any significant part in the life of their child past their biological role. Rigelians in the Nurturer stage have an instinctual impulse to care for young children, which corresponds with the receptivity of very young children to the genetic material Nurturers provide, and are usually "matrons" to one or two children at any given time. At approximately the point when children are independently mobile and have reached the telegraphic stage of verbal communication they go through their first molting, the Nurturer's instinctual bond lessens and the child-rearing instinct of Instructors begins to apply to them. A Rigelian Learner typically has a different Instructor caregiver for each of the three final instars of the Learner stage. Instructors who have chosen to devote themselves exclusively to child-rearing are called "pedagogues", typically raise several children at once, and are responsible for their basic primary education. Following the next molting, children are given into the care of a "preceptor." This period roughly covers secondary education, and is most often treated as a sort of apprenticeship. During the final instar, when the child is fairly self sufficient, they are the responsibility of a "mentor" who guides their development through roughly their post-secondary education.

Because of this, a Rigelians "family" (aside from their bondmate) is a fairly transitory concept. The more permanent relevant social unit is the tribe. Tribal size is quite variable, but is generally composed of a minimum of about one hundred individuals who share a sense of common sense of responsibility for each other and for preserving the tribe. Over generations, as tribes grow, they sometimes split. Tribes are normally governed by a council of elders chosen from the Nurturers, sometimes with Instructor elders who were biologically unable to become Nurturers. Several tribes (usually descended from a single tribe) will often maintain close social ties as a clan. A Rigelian's full name is usually formed with his given name followed by the name of his tribe (with a prefix that marks it as such) followed by the name of his clan (again with a marking prefix). In any context where a given tribe and/or clan has been established as contextually relevant, the "surnames" are not used. Societal organization beyond the scale of a clan varies significantly. Tribal and clan boundaries are important in a number of arenas. Bondmates tend to be of the same tribe, or at least of the same clan. However, mating pairs (which are typically negotiated by tribal leaders rather than by the individuals involved) are generally of different clans. Rarely they are of the same clan but different tribes. Inter-tribal mating is subject to a mild, but real, "incest" taboo.

The Rigelian capacity to genetically pass on certain propensities and habits that have been learned over the course of a lifetime has many benefits, but it also has some significant drawbacks. Most significantly, it can tend over time to cause stagnation and prevent innovation as a propensity that was very valuable at a given point becomes so widespread that even as circumstances change it is difficult to change the propensity towards the obsolete behavior. Because of this, some portion of each new generation (generally chosen because they are judged to come from solid genetic stock) is not nursed by the Nurturers of the tribe. These individuals are given special care and a wider breadth of education in an attempt to make up for the disadvantage of lacking the genetic memory and to encourage them to be innovative and seek new directions. The proportion of children that are chosen to be raised this way is decided by the tribal leaders based on a judgment of how much danger the tribe is of falling into an unhealthy "rut." For example, Rigelians have a long history of colonization and terraforming, and a tribe that elects to move to an entirely new environment will typically withhold nursing from a large proportion of its children since innovation is more highly desirable.

Rigelians, like Vulcans, are touch telepaths and they developed millennia ago a technology that is similar in many respects to Vulcan katric arks. Rather than preserving the entire "self" of an individual, Rigelians are able to use small crystalline objects to telepathically preserve, with great detail, specific memories. They traditionally use specially prepared stone beads for this purpose. Memories of particular personal import are traditionally worn in the hair. Other beads (often including beads that preserve copies of memories of significant forebears) are kept on strings that are worn around the neck or draped over shoulders. The situations under which they are to be worn varies across Rigelian cultures, as do the taboos about who is permitted to touch them and under what circumstances. Rigelian mental disciplines often center around meditation focused on these stored recollections.

The Rigelian instar system sometimes creates confusion about the use of gendered pronouns in Standard. Rigelian languages that make any similar distinction in pronouns only have a separate pronoun of respect that is used for Nurturers. In early contact with disexual species that were unaware of the Rigelian instars, the Rigelians tended to associate femininity with Nurturers (and vice versa for the disexual species) based on the visible dimorphism of their mammary glands. As linguistic understanding developed, the honorific distinction in Rigelian pronouns was associated with the gender distinction in other languages. This practice has been maintained, and by convention Nurturers are referred to with feminine pronouns and all others with masculine pronouns.