Summary

Full name: Nurlan Azamatov
Sex & Gender: cis-male (he/him)
Birthyear: 2023
Height: 1.94m (6'4")
Species: Snow Leopard
Occupation: Mechanical engineer
Sexual identity: pan-sexual
Character: introvert, humble, creative, focussed, hard-working, anxious, impatient.
Likes: Tinkering, Workout, Feminine clothing, Reading fiction, Sign language performance art, (Rock) climbing, His friends Tom and Chintaka
Dislikes: People dismissing or ignoring his deafness, or being pampered because of his handicap, Music, Heat, Small spaces

Character

Nurlan was born in a mountain town in eastern Kyrgyzstan. His parents were excited at first that their son was blessed with four arms, and thought it was a sign from God. But the little boy was fearful, and confused, and didn't seem to respond in the way his parents expected. He didn't seem to respond to them calling his name, or anything they said to him. At first they thought there was something wrong with his mental development, but after closer inspection, the doctors diagnosed that Nurlan was born deaf. His ears were fine, they did pick up the sound, but the neurons connecting to his brain hadn't developed correctly. Unfortunately, there was nothing the doctors could do about it, and the family had to deal with this handicap. The parents learned how to communicate in sign language, and taught that to their son as he grew up.

In his youth, he was often bullied for his deafness, even while the Wellspring War was ongoing, throwing the world around this young child into chaos. His father would train him, hoping that would help him to defend himself, if not against the enemy it would be against his bullies. And even though after he got stronger and his bullies backed off, the training routine has remained a part of his life ever since. He also struggled with his gender expression in his teenage years, after the War was over, and had an affinity for more feminine clothing, and shared his concerns with his parents. His father told him that he should dress the way he'd feel comfortable in, and you don't have to be a girl to wear feminine clothing. Nurlan started to wear skirts and dresses more and more, and that seemed to make him feel happier, even though his peers at first did ridicule him about it.

Nurlan had dreamed to become a professional soccer player, but his deafness got in the way of co-ordinating with the team. However, he also found he had a lot of fun tinkering with machines, take them apart to see how they work and put them back together again. He amazed his parents with his skills in repairing the old machines they had at home. They saw their son's talent and saw an opportunity for him in the new educational program to become a starship engineer. After completing the entry exam, the board was convinced that they boy would qualify for this program, despite his handicap. He completed his study in Genève and passed his degree with flying colours. But although his diploma was good, Starfleet itself was hesitant to assign him to any ship, afraid his deafness would get in the way. When Nurlan got the news, he was furious about this discrimination against him out in the open after he had worked so hard to get here, and escalated this issue to higher authorities, all the way up to admiral Řykaja. Clever as ever, she found him a place on "a crew of misfits" in agreement with Patrick Higgs, at the time captain of the U.F.S. Pioneer. Nurlan quickly made friends there with fellow ensign Tom Bronzefur, who also was mute like him (despite not being deaf). The two bonded over their shared struggles, and Tom's girlfriend Chintaka became an integral part of his social circle as well. When the three of them are together, they all communicate in sign language to each other out of respect for their deaf friend.

Nurlan wears a special shorter version of the uniform. This is because the normal uniform is too warm for him to function properly, as his can handle heat very poorly. He also has a visor that lets him "see" sound, or at least the intensity and direction of noises, so things don't sneak up on him, and the Universal Translator does transfer the speech of his colleagues into his head in a way he can understand (it's more that he can "see" their words like reading subtitles rather than "hearing" them in his head). When he "speaks ", he prefers to use his lower pair of arms, using his upper pair to do any tasks he's been given. He also does some special performative form of sign language on stage, making gestures in a very elegant way (which his friend Chintaka describes as it's like it's "singing in sign language"). Nurlan is however negatively triggered by music. He doesn't hate the concept of music itself, but the fact that it alienates him from the rest of his peers, who can hear it and enjoy it. This feeling of being left out his him hard every time, even when there's no malice behind it.

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Just in time to post a snow leopard character for Sneptember. He just got stuck in my head and he turned out to be a real cutie. I also wanted his handicap be something permanent that couldn't be easily solved by this world's amazing technology or magic, I want it to play a role in his character and his handicap is something he and his peers have to deal with, but still finds a way to do something he likes and makes him feel valued. And of course, now Tom is not the only person on board who's mute.

UFIS story universe is by  sabrina-taur

Drawn in InkScape