[quote=@Bentus]
Pretty much good-to-go, although to be honest the backstory felt like it got a bit too ramble-y for my liking!

[hider=Fihlyn]
[h3]Character Description[/h3]
[list]Name: Fihlyn “Flynn” Numosath
Species: Aquarian (Quessir)
Sex: F
Age: 29
Role/Job: Assistant Pilot
Appearance: Like most Quessir, Fihlyn has smooth-scaled, iridescent skin that shifts hue in the light—her own tending toward shades of blue and violet. Her fingers and toes are long and webbed, and her eyes, wide and dark, are adapted for low-light vision. Outside of water, she wears a compact hydration suit that leaves her humanoid form visible, but maintains a delicate sheen of moisture over her skin. The suit includes a clear bubble helmet that maintains a humid microclimate around her head, at least allowing for her expressions to be seen.
[/list]
[h3]Strengths and Weaknesses[/h3]
[list]
Skills:
Piloting and Navigation - Fihlyn is the first Quessir certified for deep-space piloting. While she excelled at theory, her access to practical training was limited - most systems were never designed with her physiology in mind. Her current assistant role aboard the ESS 3822-01 is the closest she’s come to operating a true starship, a position earned only after tireless lobbying from her family.
Swimming - While Fihlyn isn’t considered exceptionally skillful among her kind, the Quessir are naturally gifted swimmers and divers. Her biology allows her to breathe oxygenated water, and to dive tens of meters without much effort.
Low-light vision - The Quessir evolved to live in the shallows of their watery planet, where the sunlight can be significantly diminished. As a result, they adapted to see better in dim lighting, although bright lights can lead to disorientation and discomfort. Their vision is not quite as well-suited for the night as the Kiellar’s, since the Quessir can also rely on their other senses while in the water.

Weaknesses:
Dehydration - Like all of her kind, Fihlyn cannot survive out of the water for extended periods without technological assistance. While a Quessir can go for days on dry land in the damp and humid regions of their homeworld, this isn’t the case in environments built for the species of Eden. Particularly dry and hot landscapes, like deserts, can be a swift death sentence.
Outsider - Fihlyn is a fish-out-of-water, both literally and figuratively. Among Edenites, she is treated as a curiosity at best and an inconvenience at worst. Her hydration suit marks her as different; every hiss of its compressor, every awkward button-press with webbed fingers, reminds her that this world wasn’t built for her. She tries to hide how exhausting it is to always smile through dismissive stares.
Fragile- Compared to the Edenite species, Quessir have a fragile physiology. Their bones tend to be more delicate, although their warriors are capable of building significant muscle through training. It goes without saying that Fihlyn is not one of these warriors.
[/list]

[h3]Background:[/h3]
[list]Backstory:
When Fihlyn was a girl, she would gaze up at the night sky from the surface and imagine herself swimming among the stars.

Born into a prominent mercantile family, Fihlyn had more contact with the offworld Edenites than most of her kind. The Quessir were still adapting to life in a broader interstellar community, even a century after first contact. But Fihlyn never knew a world without aliens. Her father’s trade expeditions often brought her close to the dry-land colonies, where strange creatures walked and spoke in clipped, foreign syllables. She was fascinated. While most Quessir remained beneath the waves, content in their cities of coral and glass, Fihlyn wanted to understand the ones who came from above.

Despite decades of predominantly peaceful trade and communication, contact between the Quessir and the Edenite colonies was still limited. The dry-lands that the Edenites preferred to settle were of little interest to the Quessir, and the aliens themselves needed bulky equipment to visit the locals’ undersea cities. But Fihlyn’s father was a vocal proponent of increased cooperation, and he saw relaxing the restrictions on trade in technology as a way to accelerate his world’s industrialization. Fihlyn inherited her insatiable wanderlust from him, alongside a stubborn work ethic. Without any translator nanites, she forced herself to learn enough of the Edenite’s language for basic communication. The effort earned her praise from her father’s prominent contacts, who took to Edenyzing her name to “Flynn”.

Eventually, Fihlyn came of age and had to decide upon the course of her life. For a woman of her standing, a strategic marriage was the traditional path. But Quessir society was changing as it industrialized, and there were other ways in which Fihlyn could fulfill her duty to her people. She’d always been smart, and had consistently performed well in her studies - she wasn’t quite ready to put a stop to her education when there was still so much more to learn. 

With her parents’ support, Fihlyn enrolled in university to pursue her studies further. She had her eyes set on a particular prize, though: a new program that allowed a limited number of Quessir to cross-enroll in an Edenite college. As part of her acceptance, Fihlyn would finally be provided with translator nanites of her own - albeit with their efficacy dulled after being injected into an older host. She made no secret of her intention to go on to fulfill all of the requirements needed to fly and navigate a starship. It was a qualification that no other Quessir had obtained before, and she was determined to be the first.

While Fihlyn hadn’t expected the program to be easy, she wasn’t prepared for the isolation. Although she made friends among the other Quessir students, she was the only one of her species pursuing her particular program and it took time for her to make friends among the Edenites. Worse, while Fihlyn could pour herself into learning theory, she found that she struggled to gain any practical experience. Nothing had been designed with a Quessir’s biology in mind - none of the training simulators, nor any of the craft that they were being taught to pilot. She wore a hydration suit that clung uncomfortably to her skin, always too hot or too cold. Her webbed fingers slipped on touchscreens never meant for her. Her instructors barely concealed their reluctance to accommodate her needs, and while some students were curious, many kept their distance.

There were days when Flynn considered quitting. But she kept showing up—early, soaked, tired, alone. She learned to observe more closely when she couldn’t participate. She shadowed her classmates. She filed appeals. And she found an unlikely ally: a human lecturer with ties to her father’s trading network. The woman became a mentor, quietly bending rules to let Flynn into restricted sessions, advocating for her when others wouldn’t.

In the end, Fihlyn’s experiences didn’t deter her. She learned how to stand up for herself among the Edenites, and how to treat things with an optimistic attitude. She graduated close to the top of her class, much to the surprise of those peers who had all but dismissed her. The achievement gave her a small dose of celebrity among her people, and she even received a congratulatory letter from the Emperor himself. Fihlyn would find opportunities to speak to younger Quessians - with some going on to follow in her footsteps - while promoting a keener interest in space travel among her kind’s leaders.

But the reality wasn’t quite as grand as Fihlyn had hoped.

Though certified, Flynn had no true flight hours. Her physiology remained an obstacle. Interfaces, seat designs, safety protocols, all calibrated for dry-land species. Even the most forward-thinking Edenites hesitated to hire her. Why reconfigure a cockpit for one Quessir, when dozens of qualified Edenites stood ready?

She spent years grounded, working odd positions on short-range craft, watching the stars from orbit but never reaching them. Her role as an assistant on a low-orbit tug was technically historic, but to her, it felt hollow.

Then, at last, the tides turned.

The Edenite colonies on her world had expanded, pushing toward the sea. Tensions flared over access to deep-sea resources, and negotiations followed. As part of the resolution, the Emperor offered a gesture of unity: a new colonial expedition, with Quessir among the settlers, and one Quessir on the crew. Flynn’s father had a hand in brokering the deal. He made sure his daughter’s name was at the top of the list.

And so, Fihlyn would finally get her chance to travel among the stars. Her first destination: a shipyard in orbit of Eden itself, where a colony ship was waiting for her to join its crew as an assistant pilot.
[/list][/hider]
[/quote]

Happy to accept, welcome aboard.