Zuhrovet Sikandaret

Zuhrovet Sikandaret (Sasha) (born in 201, subjective age 27) is an information security specialist in the Rebellion and team lead on the Cantata.

Family and early life

Sasha was born on Naxarat, of mixed Naxorian and Kirrish heritage. She has one full sibling, a brother 10 years younger than her named Amirxan and nicknamed Mirek, and one half-sibling on her father's side whom she has never met. She remains attached to her childhood nanny, an ethnically Kirrish woman, and occasionally corresponds with her.

Sasha's father and mother both held partial shares in Fountain House, and she retains a 5/8 share. Her paternal grandfather specialized in rail security; building on this tradition, her father had made significant investments in rail transit as part of his Fountain House activities. Sasha grew up on her father's estate near a mountain pass in the Dek'alekhes. This pass gave access to an area mined for rare minerals.

Sasha's education was directed by a series of tutors, most of whom had trained as religious/legal scholars. She took distance education courses in the sciences and, when preparing to leave Naxarat, in the high language. Sasha's parents enrolled her in Junior Mining Engineers, a Naxorian leadership program designed to prepare participants for a future supervisory role in the mines, in an effort to improve her social skills. Surviving JME records describe Sasha as mechanically adept but prone to conflict with the other children. Sasha's brother enrolled in a related organization, Training Society Hosts, where he excelled, earning the approbation of their mother.

Sasha borrowed against her Fountain House share to fund her emigration to the heptarchate at the age of 18. Because she was legally a minor, both of her parents had to approve this use. When Sasha was 19, her parents divorced. Sasha's mother thus became liable to Sasha's father for financial reparations, due to breach of contract. She maintains a household in the provincial capital appropriate to her social stature, and capable of the education of Sasha's brother, in large part by drawing upon Sasha's Fountain House share (for which she is the designated proxy). In addition, Sasha continues to remit a portion of her salary to support her mother's household.

Exotic abilities and heretical beliefs

Sasha is, on average, luckier than she ought to be; the effect is particularly noticeable when she is under heightened stress or engaged in games of chance. Though it is not entirely under her conscious control, Sasha can manipulate this ability to some extent by using her knowledge of Kirrish folklore and calendrical traditions.

Sasha has also been influenced by Naxorian religion, although she identifies as an atheist. This influence is most obvious in her choice of profanity and her adherence to the pre-conquest Naxorian tradition of covering one's hair in public.

Heptarchate and Rebellion

At the age of 18, Sasha traveled to the heptarchate. After a year of private tutoring focused on mathematics and the high language, she applied for Nirai training. She failed the entrance exam three times, after pointing out significant errors in the problems posed. (Though Sasha is not aware of this fact, she would have passed the exam on the third try if her exotic powers had not interfered with an attempt to induce the Nirai time sense.) She then joined a private information security firm as an analyst, upon recommendation from her former tutor.

Agents of the Rebellion posing as foreign diplomats contracted with Sasha's firm for security protection and local intelligence. After serving as a liaison for several missions and deducing part of the agents' true identity, Sasha volunteered to become an agent herself. Her initial training focused on hacking techniques from other eras. Prior to joining the crew of the Wasp, she was part of a team that maintained time-of-origin grid presences for Rebellion agents, including processing rebellion payments to home-timeline accounts.

Hobbies

Sasha is interested in mathematical models for cryptography. In her spare time she has pursued hobbies such as birding, watching frogs and salamanders, karaoke, weightlifting, and marksmanship. She has earned a distance-learning certificate in herpetology.

Signifier

Between the ages of approximately 19 and 27, Sasha's signifier was Broken-Winged Moth. This signifier is common among Nirai who lack access to social or intellectual community. Her current signifier is Voidmoth on Patrol.

Appearance

Sasha is short (approximately 150 cm, or just under 5 feet tall) and of a wiry build.

Possessions

Sasha's wardrobe consists of a floppy and generally execrable hat, a newsboy-style cap, a couple of scarves, some underwear, five gray shirts (one hacked short, one with part of a circuit board printed on the back, and a nicer one in charcoal gray), two pairs of baggy pants with lots of pockets, one pair of black pants in clean lines, two black jackets (one old, one new) with stand collars, two workout tanks made from some high-tech sweat-wicking fabric, a pair of leggings of the same material, some shoes equivalent to sneakers, a collection of symbolic hairpins, and some ribbon.

Life Lessons

Sasha has learned the following (not comprehensive) list of strategies for dealing with other humans through trial and error:

• If you anticipate being locked in a room to contemplate your sins, you should hide a tablet in there ahead of time so you don't get bored.
• Citizens of the heptarchate who inquire about the number of your parents are not trying to imply that you are illegitimate.
• Don't lecture people about probability while you're beating them at jeng-zai.
• Do not make an eight-item report to members of the heptarchate.
• Do not use your security skills to read the personal records of people whom you find attractive.