Karolene Gherea

=• Personality •= Karolene, despite the facade of kind smiliness she often portrays to put her patients at ease, is cold and dead inside, concerned with nothing more than advancing the cause of science. She often demonstrates an attachment, almost love, to the abominations she creates, referring to them as little pets. Though this would not stop her from killing and dissecting any of them, she does seem rather protective, and if they are hurt, she generally grows angry.

=• History •= Childhood: Karolene was born to Carlanna and Francis Gherea twenty-four years before the creation of the Everlife Elixir. Her parents and three brothers showed her typical family love. She fought often with her brothers, but, when adversity showed, they pulled together and protected each other. Her parents spared no expense at ensuring their youngest child, and only daughter's, future. They sent her to only the best schools, hired the best groomers to ensure her physical beauty, and did everything they could to ensure their daughter would grow up to be a great Alchemist, like her idol, Viktor Lazarin.

Despite all their efforts, their daughter showed no potential for the conventional alchemies. She could not perform even the easiest transmutation of lead into gold, showed no aptitude for fusing technology with flesh, and could not manipulate genes to save her life (This was actually tested). It was not until well into her teenage years that her true talent surfaced.

Shortly after her 16th birthday, the teenage Karolene came upon a small animal, who had been wounded and lost a wound to a vehicular accident. She took the small animal home, intent on finishing the job and dissecting it, to discover its insides, like the great doctor would do, but then, inspiration struck. She used some left over materials from another dissection to construct a working leg, and, with no small amount of trial and error, grafted it successfully onto the poor creature.

The animal's body rejected the new part, eventually, but Karolene knew her calling. She continued experimenting on this, grafting creatures together into abominations, figuring out how to stop the rejection with chemicals, and, finally, presented her findings to her parents.

Despite the clear genius in her work, her parents were disgusted by the ugly creatures their daughter created, and immediately destroyed all her hard-earned research, slaughtering the creatures she had so lovingly crafted. The young Mordesh woman decided, that night, that she would take what she had managed to salvage, and leave, to find her luck elsewhere.

Adult: Karolene roamed the planet, growing older and more experienced in her work, presenting it to university after university, lab after lab, only to be chased out of each one by disgusted scientists, who, in her mind, only rejected it because they could not see her genius.

When the Everlife Elixir came about, Karolene, now a twenty-four year old, hardened, cynical woman still saw it like all other Mordesh. A way out of death. She gladly took it, even getting some injections for her pets, wanting to see how it would interact with their modified chemical makeup. Of course, the Elixir's effects struck her just as it struck the others.

She became a rampaging beast, who retained enough awareness to remember all those that had wronged her. Scientists, professors, all fell before her, before she, in her Elixir-induced rampage, found her parents. They were as maddened as she was, and they fought each other, until only Karolene and her father remained. At this time, she received her dose of the Vitalis Serum, and awoke from her rampage to see the bodies of her family around her, and her father dying of his wounds. Rather than save the man who had rejected her and her work, Karolene finished the job, blaming the rampage for his death.

Recent Events: After being smuggled off of her home planet in pieces, along with many other Mordesh, she struck out on her own into the galaxy. She journeyed from edge to edge, dodging her own kind and the Dominion, selling her skills to whoever would pay, and creating many, many abominations in the process. She became reclusive, avoiding even the most basic contact with outsiders, doing her operations while the subjects where anesthetized, and disappearing with her money before they could awake.

It was on the planet Nexus that she encountered her first live outsider in a long time. She landed, having stowed away on a cruiser, using the fact she had no need to eat or drink to her advantage, evading its occupants for the weeks of travel. Upon landing, she immediately disappeared into the wilderness, looking for specimens and the like, her ever-loyal, ever-present dog following her. It was during this wandering that she encountered Sarah Jones.

She found the young Cassian woman battling a group of deadly Malverines. She and her abomination dog dispatched the creatures, her intent on acquiring their claws, but not without considerable effort. Her dog was harmed in the process, and lay on the ground, dying. The Cassian woman stood and stared at the creature, and ran towards it. Karolene, too weakened by battle to stop her, closed her eyes, expecting the woman to kill the abomination.

When she opened her eyes, she found a rather different sight. The woman used some bandages and other things from her pack to heal the little animal, showing it more kindness than even its creator ever had. The Mordesh was stunned. No one, not even her own people, had ever accepted her creations, let alone showed them such care. After a long conversation with Sarah, she became enamored with the small Cassian, inviting her to come along on her travels. Eventually, the two settled down, beginning the business known only as Karolene's Laboratory, with Karolene as the doctor, and the little, non-judgemental Cassian as her attractive receptionist.

Taking on the title of Doctor, even though she had never technically earned it, Karolene continued to create abominations, helping some people in the process. And the rest, is history.

=• Notable Relationships •= Abominations: Her most notable relationship is with the abominations she creates, with which she shows an almost parental connection. She treats them as her children, scolding them and grounding them when they do bad things. However, she shows a maternal level of protectiveness, instantly ending the life of any who hurt them, and growing angry when anyone insults them.

Receptionist: However, she also shares an interesting relationship with her receptionist. Her receptionist, a blond Cassian woman by the name of Sarah Jones, is the only human that Karolene not only tolerates, but likes and respects. The exact reasons for this are unknown, but it can easily be observed that Karolene will immediately trust and listen to the Young blonde woman.

Partner: Shortly after coming to Nexus, and after meeting Sarah, Karolene met a fellow Mordesh scientist named Naggath. She and he eventually came to work in the same laboratory, although it is separated into two sections to allow them their own privacy,should they want it. She respects her fellow scientist, occasionally asking him for advice, help, and technology, and trusting him to make logical, calm decisions.

=• Appearance •= Like all others of her race, Karolene is covered in stitches and implants at various points of her body. Otherwise, her skin is a sickly pale light blue, with darker blue eyes. She wears her purple hair long, letting it drop to her shoulders. It has been remarked that she has a face to match her personality. Cold, sharp, unreadable. Although they're only for show, she wears a pair of glasses. She is also usually seen in her white lab coat.

=• Fighting Style •= Karolene dislikes fighting, preferring to leave that to her abominations and any mercenaries she happens to run across. However, on occasion, she is called upon to fight. When this happens, she makes use of several alterations to her body to move faster, and uses a pair of pistols. With a bit of Mordesh technological magic, the twin pistols are capable of replicating the magical abilities of Spellslingers, but designed for accuracy, enabling her to eliminate an enemy without causing damage to her future test subject's body.