For Barrayar App

[komarran]

OOC
Name: Manda
Preferred pronouns: she/her
Over 16?: y
Contact: topsecretgirly
Time zone: CST
Other characters: N/a

IC
Type: OU
Name: Duv Galeni
Canon: The Vorkosigan Saga
Canon point: Post-Brothers in Arms
Age: 34
Appearance: Nutmeg eyes and a roman profile with a grimace for a smile. Thanks, Bujold.
Personality: As a reformed child terrorist, Duv has seen and participated in some shit. The fact that he did not break down in his youth after his father supposedly died and instead went to great lengths to distance himself from his family, shows a mixture of resentment, resilience, and pragmatism. He was so driven to to get away from his planet of origin (and everything associated with it) that his determination allowed him to get to the capital planet in the empire, Barrayar. He wasted no time when he landed and immediately dove into academia with such intensity that he earned his PhD in Barrayaran history and landed a professorship before the age of 26.

Duv’s drive and approach to his new life stem greatly from his origins on Komarr, a planet subjugated by Barrayar due to Komarr allowing invaders through their space unhindered. This meant that everything Duv did, particularly as a son of a Komarran terrorist (only truly know to Barrayar’s version of the Secret Service), was observed closely and required him to climb uphill at a 90 degree angle while being assaulted by sharks. Given the tumultuous nature of Komarr and Barrayar’s relationship, there’s little chance that even Duv’s academic career wasn’t full of tension and a slightly hostile environment as he selected recent Barrayaran history as his focus. Yet his resolve remained to wade through the minefield and would likely have stuck it out in academia had Barrayar not opened its military to Komarrans.

Which points to Duv’s strong desire to prove himself and his loyalty to his chosen nationality that is crucial to his identity. Beneath Duv’s studious and intelligent demeanor, is a forced tie with Barrayar. His loyalty and oaths aren’t as intense as a native Barrayaran, but his pragmatic nature has him firmly believing that Komarr’s future is with full integration with the Barrayaran Empire. He saw the failure of his father’s participation (and his own forced involvement) with rebellion and the death it brought to his family. While other Komarrans of his generation hold resentment and a grudge towards the Barrayaran government, Duv has accepted Komarr’s new place in the Nexus and has devoted his adult life to fighting against barriers, both overt and cultural, placed before Komarrans.

His study of history makes him overly aware of the cultural nature of what he is up against. He has a firm understanding of how Barrayaran life has changed since re-entering the galactic community and Barrayar’s relationship with Komarr has come to its present state. This perception was encouraged by his Barrayaran education and research, and his dedication to understanding history and the larger picture continues well after he’s left academics to pave the way for Komarrans in the Imperial Service. He’s fought tooth and nail to achieve his education, despite what his father has done, and to push his way into a military career into Imperial Security, an assignment he almost didn’t get due to the security clearances he would gain. Even years after he’d maintained a clean civilian and military record, he would remain doubted by his Barrayaran superiors. It was a dynamic he was always aware of and colored his behavior, causing him to continually be aware of his actions and how they could be perceived.

Romantically, Duv won't see marriage for almost a decade nor be involved in any long-term relationships. His approach seems to be "subtle" in that he can court someone for months without them even realizing he's actually interested. His adolescence didn't lead to much in the way of romantic learning or experimenting and his focus on academia in the prime of his adulthood means he is still floundering and far from smooth. Work comes first, though he views any relationship he could have as a potential partnership, not only for companionship, but to further their life goals.

In short, Duv is a pragmatic academic that chose the harsh life of military service out of some self-punishing desire to prove his loyalty to the Barrayaran Empire through their main avenue of social advancement. He maintains a careful appearance, a dry sense of humor, and a passion for history and preservation of it that only rivals his intense desire to prove himself to his new home. This isn’t to say he’s forsaken his countrymen, rather he sides with the group that feels it’s time to bury the hatchet and take a more practical route for their planet’s survival in their new role within an outside Empire.
Background/AU details: The wiki is awful, but here is a page on Duv and on his home planet Komarr.
Strengths & weaknesses: Strengths: academia, satire, berserker rage, able to navigate social situations (thank you embassy work). Weaknesses: stubborn, plagiarism.
Depowering/humanization: Obtaining a PhD by the age of 26 along with a tenured faculty position is superhuman and deserves to be revoked. Otherwise n/a.
Placement preference: Cetaganda because Duv’s life is usually suffering, so this will be about par for the course. The social dynamics of him having to handle Cetagandans while knowing the outcome of the conflict (in his version of this Nexus) would be interesting. He’s a loyal subject of Barrayar dammit and he doesn’t know what he did to deserve this.
Character goals: Trying to survive and record a historically accurate account of the events along with helping the Barrayarans succeed in ousting the Cetagandans. If that doesn’t prove he’s loyal to the Imperium he gives up.
Sample: TDM sample