Avice Invenire

Childhood and Early Life
Born in the Whistler’s colony of Waxer’s Loft, Avice had never really found themselves growing too attached to the typical Whistler/Seeker lifestyle. They found compromise to be a thing of vulnerability and the easiest way to find oneself losing more than they could gain, and more importantly they found it to be a direct impediment to getting the things that need doing done. Avice spent half of their earlier life amongst Whistlers, but they were quite antisocial with their own kind- something unusual for Taisce- instead spending most of their time reading and observing. Eventually, Avice leaned more and more on the natural inclinations that Taisce feel such as ego and selfish perspective and ended up stealing archived information from the Whistler’s archives before fleeing Waxer’s Loft entirely, making their way for the outer territories of the Four King’s Court.

It took a good amount of time for Avice to alleviate themselves of “Seeker” status in the FKC due to the traditionalist’s taboo of such Whistler associates, but Avice was able to trudge through it partly in congregating with Scholars and a couple Dreamers lurking amongst them. Avice kept their stolen knowledge close to their chest and followed the philosophy of “give a little gain a lot” dealings, and even then they relied more on the ignorance that some of their lower level ‘partners in commerce’ bore in their own pursuits more than anything. Soon enough however Avice was able to climb some amount of trust amongst her fellow Taisce enough to be allowed to dabble in the market of information without much impediment, which served their own aims for several decades until the day they first heard the name “USS Totality”...

At this time, Avice had several qualms with the Taisce traditionalists that were already causing them to reconsider their change of allegiances from the Whistlers to Traditionalists. They all seemed petty, closed in, inexperienced; all save the upper echelons of the Scholars’ sorts, that and the Hunters who were known for their penchants for violence… Avice realized that most of their profit wasn’t from worthwhile information itself but rather from manipulating idiots into paying out more than what was worth, and as a Taisce they felt that spoke pretty poorly of their abilities. That self-doubt wasn’t entirely valid however, as almost entirely on accident they came across information regarding a serious crime against the Four King’s Court that some “Federation” people (“Whatever that is…”) were being blamed for, despite the fact that after Avice’s digging, couldn’t reasonably be blamed for.

Avice would’ve left it at that if it weren’t for the fact that the King of Times/Wars seemed to be pretty eager to use the incident in question as an excuse to try and hunt down and destroy that vessel with their cohort of heavily armed Hunters. Something kicked in Avice that they hadn’t quite felt before; that something being their own sense of morality stirring in their skull when presented with a situation that was putting innocent lives in danger. Truth and justice became a tangible goal to Avice where all else had just been hollow profit, and they got to work to figuring out what was really going on.

The crime in question did happen; it was the information leak of the location of a project initialized by the King of Days that resulted in the destruction of said project by those who didn’t quite like the Taisce (reasonably so), but the USS Totality wasn’t involved whatsoever. Avice knew they’d be able to trace the origin through their own contacts and figure out what was really going on using their own informational agency, but they knew that would take time. In a desperate bid, they… Contacted (Harassed) the Whistlers into getting them a line of communication to the ship in question and warned the Captain of the Totality that they were being hunted down, and ended up working in tandem with the Totality to reveal the true culprit for the crime committed.

Where Avice expected to be thanked by their fellow Taisce for correcting the mistake made however, they were instead ostracized. Their business contacts started to evaporate, and their ability to reach into the informational market that the Taisce kept flowing diminished by the day. The point was finally made clear when Avice was assaulted by a Hunter presumably under the command of Times/Wars and stabbed several times, losing part of one of their ears, horns, and suffering a damaged eye in the process… As well as suffering scars that haven’t quite fully healed on their body. Avice figured that they bit off way more than they could chew (though they had no idea what or why) given that one of the four kings apparently demanded their murder, and so they fled Taisce territory.

With nowhere else to go, Avice ended up harassing the communications of the USS Totality again using the Whistler’s line (To nobody’s surprise given Avice keeps stealing from the Whistlers, though the Whistlers seem to think it’s funny) trying as politely as possible to explain the misfortune they’ve suffered because of the actions they took to lend some assistance, and politely demanded to please be allowed aboard the Totality as a passenger and refugee for the cause of not being murdered by their fellow Taisce and also “You owe me”. That request as much was obliged, but it wasn’t long before Avice yearned for more…

Avice was soon once again sending messages to the Captain of the Totality, explaining that they had tried to find a way into Starfleet but were obstructed by the need for a recommendation letter. They followed that explanation with the request of one from the captain himself, but to Avice’s dismay, their request was refused. Avice persisted, and after being rejected another two times and threatened with being permanently ignored, they finally got their answer as to why from the captain over video call.

''“You’re as good a Taisce as the rest of them. You only want, not need. You do everything you want to do to satisfy yourself; break rules, steal things, manipulate people, switch sides constantly. I can’t bet my reputation on someone who’s culture demands they only care about themselves.”''

Avice knew the problem. It wasn’t because she was born a Taisce, but rather she lived the life of one. Be it throwing oneself upon the grand goal of creating the mass archive the Whistlers want, or by serving the self especially at the expense of other races like the Traditionalists, Avice knew from firsthand experience that Starfleet needed neither. “She” removed her hood and referred to herself with her birth name (Avicenehtivelinvenireich) in defiance of her culture and assumed “You want a Taisce who’ll swear to something more than themselves”, an assumption made correctly. Avice made a promise that she’d scorn the ways of her kind that interfere with Federation values, and that her service, regardless of self-benefit, would be for the sake of the oath she’d get to make if she made it into the Academy. The first promise she’d make her entire life in the hopes that she would get to make another.

The Totality’s Captain eventually reconsidered his refusal. In time Avice had their recommendation letter (And quit using those pesky pronouns…), and off to the Academy that would test just how strong that promise was they went...

Academy Years
Academy years were rough for Avice. Given their long life and having already dabbled in things that require a sharp mind for most of it, the learning and testing part of the Academy wasn’t problematic. What was problematic was that Avice is a Taisce, and given they weren’t wearing the scarlet scarves of a Whistler, others easily deduced their background as having come from a Traditionalist territory. Here was a Taisce, a species known for its resentment of other races and disregard for all other things including people’s lives for self’s sake, trying to get involved in what is essentially the opposite of what Taisce culture finds acceptable… Especially given the fact that Avice was pushing for Starfleet Intelligence, others found Avice suspicious and untrustworthy. Avice figures even today that if it weren’t for what they did for the USS Totality, the letter might’ve been rejected outright…

But honestly? Avice could not care at all what other people thought. They were pushed, teased, and tested but Avice just focused on what it might be like to keep a promise. Ironically, the more others tested Avice’s true intentions, the stronger their desire to succeed in the Academy grew… Thus turning Avice’s natural inclinations into a weapon to brace against uncertainty with stronger and stronger with each push.

In the end, not only was Avice’s resolve unshaken, but their actions in the field of information, investigation and deduction back during the USS Totality incident qualified them for Intelligence’s interests alongside their academy scores. It helps that it was clear at that point that Avice had no place in Taisce society anymore, and that for the centuries that Avice had to come ahead would be spent with the Federation. No more switching sides for self interest. No more making the self one’s only priority.

Early Service Years
Avice’s early years of service were dedicated to showing those who held them in scrutiny that they had taken the oath just the same as everyone else and was well-capable of maintaining that oath. Their first assignment was aboard the USS Maxmillian, an assignment that didn’t see Avice facing a huge amount of action for the most part, leaving them to spend their days performing the typical duties that a fresh-faced Ensign might aboard a ship where everyone was just so utterly different than Avice. In truth, Ensign Invenire appreciated the quiet; where the Academy directly challenged Avice’s nature as a natural born Taisce, their assignment on the Maxmillian treated them like every other Starfleet officer at least openly for the most part… And that was the true test. So easy it was to reject Taisce comforts and culture when they were being actively pressed to do so that Invenire forgot why those comforts existed in the first place, and being without them in normal life was… Uncomfortable.

Avice felt naked in their uniform, yet compressed and bound all the same- and not in some metaphorical sense either. They were paranoid and expected others to scorn them, leaving them unprepared for normal interactions and worse for conversations with people curious of Avice due to their very different physiology and background. Speaking of physiology, Avice couldn’t stand the use of pronouns in correlation to them, realizing just how much of the Taisce’s culture stuck to them… And they had no idea how to speak to a counsellor. They were scared to- they had spent the entire time they stayed at the academy fighting back against being a Taisce, but now they were being a Taisce as they were, not because of culture but because of natural inclination. They realized that their efforts to appease Starfleet had taught them to hate themselves, but they also knew that wasn’t the purpose- but they couldn’t help it.

Worst of all, Avice just couldn’t reason in their head how the hell they were supposed to handle being in as low a position as they perceived themselves to be when they were chronologically older than just about everyone else (Though biologically still young)... And how they were supposed to cope with getting to know these people only to outlive them.

Avice managed to avoid crumpling beneath the despair that was welling up inside of themselves long enough to catch a promotion, which ended up culminating in a transfer over to the USS Totality after some strings pulled on that Captain’s end saw to it happening. There their work continued with a little bit more prestige, not because Avice was doing anything out of the way grand or special, but because they were doing exactly as a Starfleet officer should- and aiming to excel in doing so. Moreover, Avice was treated to a few faces they found familiar to some small extents from their prior experience with the Totality, which made the environment a little more reassuring for them… And eventually lead to the space-bat’s emotional breakdown.

Luckily they had it in their quarters, and got their bunkmate to promise not to make a fuss over it. Avice did let slip their feelings to the Captain in a passing conversation once however, and that ended up in Invenire being redirected to the Counsellor, who managed to help Avice at least ventilate a bit so that they could dump out the emotional baggage. That made Avice’s life in doing their job much easier, and so after a fair amount of time of dedicated work on the USS Totality, Avice ended up promoted again and once more transferred over to another ship… At their private request. Avice’s reasonings were admittedly straightforward… They were having too difficult a time coming to terms with the longevity of their life compared to that of everyone else’s to bear making meaningful connections.

Recent Years
Avice figured they could do better work elsewhere anywho- at this point there was long since no denying that they were a Starfleet Officer before they were a Taisce for the most part (save some matters of preference like the dismissal of pronouns), and so in time a transfer was arranged to another vessel, the USS Providence, now with an assignment with even more considerable responsibility as part of Starfleet Intelligence than the last, one that is sure to see more active scenarios that will properly put Avice’s skillsets to the test...