Dr. Nadezha Vyralis



Curious workaholic with a somewhat withdrawn personality, Nadezha is a scientist before anything else. Her interest and research in xenobiology triumphs over her stalker training any day, and deep down she's not truly a fighter. Present her with a new world of possibilities, however, and she will study every little creature there is, no matter how hostile it may be.

It's a good thing her scanbot does most of the dangerous work!



Nadezha's skin is a sickly pale gray color with mottled spots, tightly draped over her skull with little fat between. Her features are extremely sharp and pointed and her eyes are very heavy-lidded with dark circles underneath. The little hair that was left after her infection has been replaced with artificial silvery-white strands attached to her scalp in a mohawk style.

While common for her species, she's very tall compared to a human - nearing 7 feet. Her thin, bony body is surprisingly heavy due to the multiple biomechanical implantations and replaced body parts. Nadezha's whole neck and lower jaw has been replaced with robotic parts due to the advanced rot that had to be cut away completely, and even her lower rows of teeth are now metallic. Likewise, her ankles and feet are robotic and her eyes have been replaced with cybernetic optical sensors.

Her shoulder joints, lower arms and stomach area have all been stripped of rotted flesh and replaced with transparent flexible casing filled with light-blue dyed Vitalus Serum to keep the remaining bone tissue (and some organs, in the case of her stomach) alive. Many of her inner organs have been removed and/or replaced, but she is still able to process (liquid) food and doesn't need to rely on protein injections like others of her kind.

Due to the massive amount of surgery to save the rest of her face, Nadezha has a very limited range of facial expressions and can seem disinterested and unfeeling most of the time. Even her eyes are featureless and simply colored orbs with faint lights in them.

Most of the time, this scientist wears typical (and cheaply-made) exile clothes with a lab coat over that, and does not really care about wearing anything else. Shoes are unnecessary since her feet are metallic. Nadezha does, however, have a few decorations, such as metallic piercings (with lights!) at her forehead, and elaborate cybernetic earrings with tubes colored like her serum.



In spite of 80 or so years of living on the Exile fleet, the destruction of their entire civilization, and the ravages of the Contagion, mordesh in general remain sophisticated and elegant. Their quiet, reserved demeanor are at a stark contrast to their chipper, active, and energetic allies. Nadezha is a good example of such a mordesh.

Despite that and her inability to show much emotion in her face, she is anything but the cold, unfeeling person she seems. While bitter and seemingly aloof on the outside, carrying a lot of sorrow and fear from the time during the outbreak in Grismara, deep down Nadezha is surprisingly kind and compassionate - especially with those who are young and/or ill. She has no love or patience with those who try to oppress those kind of people - or in general, for that matter. The Dominion's coldness is still fresh even after so long.

She's aware that her appearance can be quite unsettling and for some outright frightening, and while she used to be very sensitive about it, it is now giving her a slight sense of pride - she has survived, no matter the horrors she's been through. Still, she carries some PTSD from the outbreak and still really hates cramped areas full of people, as it reminds her of the Grismaran safehouses.

After being around the scrappy, rag-tag band of Exiles, she's pretty used to teasing, quips and good-natured humor, boasting drunk people and general tomfoolery from her allies. Her own humor is a bit more withdrawn, but she opens up more with people she knows and doesn't mind a battle of wits. Mordesh are very fond of lyrical alliteration, so she sometimes annoy her friends with that.

When it comes to her work, Nadezha is very passionate and easily gets excited by the discovery of new species and cultures. She loves taking notes about their daily lives and will ask as many questions as the people will allow her to - sometimes even more. Give her a few samples and she'll be in scientist heaven, cataloging and studying it feverishly. She's quite a workaholic and can spend days completely engrossed in her work.



During the Contagion disaster, Nadezha lived in the capital of Grismara. She was a scientist dedicated to xenobiology, and was known to create several species directories with impressive amounts of detail, right down to tissue samples. She had a fairly small family with no siblings and parents who lived far away - she made sure to visit them at least once or twice in the year. (She tended to be far too engrossed in her work the rest of the time.)

At home, she kept a small apartment together with her fiancé, who was a fairly popular author and quite understanding of her workaholic tendencies. He would leave a love note on her desk every night for her to find in the morning when she came back from work, and she would write one for him on the back of it.

Nadezha didn't get a note on the day he became of the Ravenous. He simply disappeared from their home, getting as far away he could before he turned so that he would not harm her. With the utter chaos on Grismara, Nadezha survived by pure luck and was taken to a safe area with the rest of the survivors.

After getting the serum, Nadezha and many other mordesh had to undergo extensive surgery to save what was left of their necrotic bodies, and most of her continued time in the few safe houses was filled with needles, wires and pain. It dulled her senses, but the mental anguish was still powerful when she saw herself going from an average, mousy woman to a cyborg monster.

When they joined up with the Exiles, Nadezha found that they were far more than the useless bunch of ragtag troublemakers the Dominion had made them out to be, and she had no trouble throwing her lot in with them after the Dominion had left them to die so horribly.

However, joining with the Exiles meant new dangers. While her background as a scientist was helpful to the Exiles, she also had to learn how to fight. Together with a friendly human named Thisbe Baker, she started training to become a Stalker - a spy and shadowy assassin wearing a power suit that granted invisibility and added dexterity. While Thisbe was quite talented in this class, Nadezha was still learning how to deal with all her implants and had to struggle to still remain a useful member of the Exiles in case of combat.

...because there was a LOT of combat.

In the aftermath of the Arboria resuce, Nadezha was terrified that after all that she and her people had gone through, they would now be nothing but sitting ducks, awaiting a new genocide of the few mordesh left, as well as all their new friends. Even if the ships were repaired and provisions were found, it was only a matter of time before critical systems of the fleet's battered starships began to fail.

Amazingly enough, they were saved by a human named Dorian Walker, and Nadezha was feeling hope for the first time in a long while. A new planet meant a place for her people to feel untainted earth again, and there might be a cure to be find among the new flora and fauna that could save their species once and for all.

(It was also quite exciting for her, considering it meant whole new species to study!)

Provisions were stored, hatches were battened, and all non-essential crew were directed to cryo-pods for the long trip beyond the Fringe. This was the first time Nadezha had used a cryo-pod and it was not a comfortable thing, no matter how 'safe' it was supposed to be. It took quite some time and a little bit of help to get her into one.

Many years passed in cryo, and when they finally reached their destination, she woke up into chaos. Several cryo-pods had malfunctioned and killed the people inside, and the rest were horribly cryo-sick from lack of proper maintenance. The skeletal crew that had remained out of cryo had been stretched thin and the already old and broken ship was falling apart even more. Thankfully, as a mordesh, the physical ailments of being in cryo did not affect her much.

Nadezha assisted with helping people gather their supplies, fix whatever she possibly could - and then Dominion ships attacked. While their were all mostly fought off, it was time to leave the Arkship and head for Nexus before even more ships arrived.

Ever since, Nadezha has been working for the Exiles and exploring the new world, curiously studying the new creatures with the help of her scanbot S.A.D.I.E (Scientific Advanced Data Investigation and Examination).