"The tragic, eagerly-embraced shackle of the OuterClass is a mutually-reinforcing blend of fear, denial and irresponsibility: The fear of identity loss, of not belonging to an established species-group that separates them from others they may hold themselves superior to; the denial that the existence of such species-groups only served to bring about the race-wars and are obsolete as well as self-destructive; and the inability to take responsibility for those terrible centuries, much less to move forward and aspire to citizenship in the mutually responsible world of the future that is Unity."
Player: Kolotil
Character Name: Hope Lyrae
Age: 27
Sex: Female
Species: Hybrid, Half Ermine (season-stabilized stoat), half Snowy Egret
Height/Weight: 5'3", 120#
Social Status: UniClass
Physical Description: Hope has appeared on more than a few posters advocating artificial hybridization, but that was several years ago. She is a strikingly beautiful blending of stoat and snowy egret, artistically merged into a very complementary whole rather than the patchwork some hybrids evince. A lithe, stoat-like body with short but supple legs is surmounted by an elegantly lissome neck which displays her egret heritage eloquently. Her head is entirely stoat-like, save for brilliant, almost savagely intense golden eyes and a high crest of the diaphonous, gauzy feathers that the snowy egret only displays during mating season. These long, delicate feathers continue down her back (neatly trimmed to permit her to sit without risk of breaking them) to the base of her tail where they fan out, birdlike, in the absence of a stoat's normal appendage. Her arms are wing-like, furred on the leading edges and feathered at the trailing edges with more of those delicate, drifting, over-long skeletal feathers appended from elbow to wingtip. She is pure white in feathers and fur save for the brilliant, piercing gaze of her yellow eyes. The astute will note that this is only common coloration on stoats in winter and early spring, and that the snowy egret only displays its lacier plumage during the breeding season. In truth, she seems to be stuck in that biological moment. The most sensitive noses will actually pick up her faint, musky aroma, but it is not uncommon for her to have some pheremonal impact on others around her, earning attention from males and competition and hostility. from females.
She invariably dresses in a conservative fashion but one which still displays her plumage, knee or ankle length skirts and tight-fitting, mandarin-collared, semi-military jackets that flare at the elbow and lace loosely up the back between her feathers. She invariably wears a great deal of white, often trimmed with gold, primary yellow, or pale purples that serve to accentuate the shining intensity of her eyes. Gazing into her eyes you can just about see the reflected vistas of the perfect hybridized future framed in those glossy, golden orbs.
Her voice is a mellifluous oboe's alto burr verging on a coloratura range...A bright, sparkling tone with a lingering, honeyed richness to it...A stirring clarion call when she expounds upon the manifest destiny of Unity for all.
Background: "The tragic, eagerly-embraced shackle of the OuterClass is a mutually-reinforcing blend of fear, denial and irresponsibility: The fear of identity loss, of not belonging to an established species-group that separates them from others they may hold themselves superior to; the denial that the existence of such species-groups only served to bring about the race-wars and are obsolete as well as self-destructive; and the inability to take responsibility for those terrible centuries, much less to move forward and aspire to citizenship in the mutually responsible world of the future that is Unity.
"In a misguided effort to draw parallels between their own inability to police themselves within their self-imposed isolation from authority, and the oppression they themselves feared at the hands of other species-purist groups...An oppression they are innately willing to visit upon other species-purists in a heartbeat, given the upper hand...They frequently are so confused as to wear this shackle as if it were a badge of courage, rather than a pitiable seal of shame."
- Hope Lyrae, from 'An Assessment of Challenges Facing the Purebred Aspiring Citizen'
Some data is not simply useless. Some data, no matter how accurate, may in fact be viewed as counterproductive. Somewhere in a Ministry data-file, the birth-name of the pureblood stoat who would become Hope Lyrae may be recorded, or it may not. Somewhere there may be some files relating to her life before hybridization, or there may not. One thing is certain, she has no interest whatsoever in them or their postulated existence. That person might have been hesitant to be artificially hybridized, might have had doubts, might have had uncertainty as to what life as a productive, responsible member of a society dedicated to Unity would be like.
Hope has none of these things, and would find the very idea of having them laughably unimaginable. She is fully aware that once upon a time she was a pureblood stoat. She even has her before and after pictures, though she has no emotional attachment whatsoever to her 'befores'...It is simply handy to have them in the classroom at times, when some student has doubts about the potential for an ugly duckling to become a beautiful swan/cat/whatever.
Hope was hybridized at the age of 18, and is an early example of successful hybridization taken to the point of art. Midway through the process of grafting in avian genes it became apparent that, as one technician reported through official channels, they had 'something special'. She quickly became a poster child for the artificial hybridization process, and was groomed for a star role in advanced instruction of pureblood aspirants to hybrid status. She is an eager teacher and an avid supporter of Unity and the Ministry.
Having spent nine years of enthusiastic work in the Bureau of Social Education, Hope has now been reassigned to the recently-opened Social Education Administration of Tower 519, Midcity. She is the head of the Social Sciences Department, and will be teaching a variety of courses on the History and Future of Unification, Social Responsibility, and Civic Studies as well as counseling students who are having difficulties with coursework or other teachers who are having difficulties with problem students.
Her new apartment in the Toride reflects this change in status. While it is far from the sort of luxurious estate a Ministry officer might aspire to, it's near the high end for Toride corporate middle management. BuSocEd also has provided her with a rather pleasantly luxurious hoverdyne.
She is aware that she has a hormonal medical condition, one which she sees her doctor about every two months. In the course of seeing him she invariably discusses at length her job and philosophy with him. He, of course, is not a medical doctor, but rather a technician-psychiatrist...Her 'case worker' as it were.
Personality: Hope is well-named (of course!). She is unflinchingly bright, shiny, and ready to meet any challenge head on with reason, logic, and Ministry propaganda. She is always cultured and polite (though she has been known to discuss the excesses and flaws of the purebred population in front of its members, her politeness extends to citizens and proto-citizens...She's extremely anti-pureblood) even while thumbing an emergency signal on her PDA. She is incredibly enthusiastic about anything to do with the Ministry and with Unification. Gazing into her eyes you can just about see the reflected vistas of the perfect hybridized future framed in those glossy, golden orbs. She is unflinchingly patient with students and truly saddened when one fails to learn the necessary responsibilities and awarenesses becoming of a UniClass citizen. Away from work, she is still a model citizen. If she has a vice, it's wandering around MidCity and visualizing it as it should be...As it will be, when Unity finally has its way.
Weapons/Equipment: Hope does not go armed, ever. She has utmost faith that the Ministry will protect her. Also a PDA with a speed-dial. It's a nice PDA, about as good as Ministry technology gets and with its own built-in anti-theft systems, tailored to her genetics.
Hope has the indefinite loan of a rather nice, shiny, new four-seater hoverdyne.
Misc: When it became apparent that Hope would be as strikingly beautiful as the lead technician of her hybridization process had attempted to make her, the Ministry was immediately notified. There was a standing program for such circumstances, and once confirmation of the new hybrid's astounding aesthetic was made, the program began.
While normally artificial hybridization as a process required little more than a week, or perhaps two counting recovery time, Hope was kept sedated for almost half of a year and underwent significant processing, both physical and mental. Her mind was efficiently and ruthlessly stripped, her personality thoroughly and unflinchingly erased. In its place was built up a new personality, as utterly faithful and as perfectly patriotic to the Ministry as Ministry psych-workers could create. Her faith in the Ministry and Unity is absolute and unshakeable. Her core personality will fall apart gibbering before she begins to doubt the Ministry or its goals. If someone presented her with a set of events that clearly proved that some part of the Ministry was at odds with itself, she wouldn't even consider the idea of a test of loyalty. Instead, she'd insist that clearly the work of purist-sympathizers must have been involved, and since any Ministry officials involved are (in her mind) utterly unimpeachable, this just shows how far such terrorists are willing to go in an attempt to mislead and misconstrue the best intentions of the Unity government. Rather than emphasizing 'The Ministry can make mistakes.', it would run to 'Those spoiled, horrible, backward-minded purists must have misled some well-meaning Minister. How terrible and self-destructive is that? And you can be certain it will only make it that much harder for well-intentioned non-hybrids to strive for Unity.'
Midway through the process, the appeal of the pure white 'ermine-season' coloration of her pelt was noted and steps were taken to biologically lock her bodily rhythms into a permanent perception of 'late winter, early spring'. As a result, she is snow white year-round, and also possesses the striking, gauzy courtship plumage manifested by snowy egrets around that time. An unforeseen consequence of this is that her body is permanently on the leading edge of oestrus year-round. When it became clear that this would occur, the technician-psychiatrists overseeing the restructuring of her mind produced a technical hack that can be viewed as either extraordinarily clever or extraordinarily vicious. Her sex drive and associated urges have been entirely sublimated into the patriotic urge programmed into her. Further studies have revealed this to be a potentially desireable trait in other attempts to create 'dedicated teaching staff' through the use of artificial hybridization, as it is well understood by the technican-psychiatrists that the closest sense linked to memory is that of scent. Male and female students both find something indefinable about Hope that causes interest in both genders: one is a subconscious mating urge, the other recognizes her as a potential rival and threat. In either case, students in her classes invariably seem to pay attention to a greater degree, and absorb material at a greater degree that shows up strikingly on all of the grading graphs. Unfortunately for the Ministry's internal Bureau of Psychiatric Evaluation and Correction, the hack has so far proved unduplicatable with anything approaching regularity. One technician-psychiatrist suggested that it might be something specific to the combination of stoat and egret genetics and was informed quite correctly that creating identical, reproducible, consistent hybrid strains was not in the Ministry's interest.
Hope has no clear memories of her life before artificial hybridization, and no desire to gain any such. When asked about her life before she became UniClass, she will simply say that if she had realized beforehand how much more wonderful her life would be, and the feeling of belonging, she would've petitioned for hybridization as soon as she could write and spell the word. She will then laugh. Any attempts to dig into details of her pre-hybridization life will be deflected, at first cheerfully and jokingly, then (if the questioner is persistent) they will be informed that they are being rude. Too persistent and too rude might trigger a post-hypnotic suggestion in her brain to mention them 'being bothersome' to a member of the Ministry.