Name/Nicknames: Karusai �Ru� Tetsugasi
Gender: Male
Rank/Position: botanist/candidate
Age: 25
Birthplace: Fleet Shipyard Station Chi-3

Physical Description: Karusai is a person who looks much better suited to a computer screen then a battle formation. Standing a short 5�4�, his scrawny soft frame leaves much to be desired. He tends to leave his hair long, a rather unruly mass of thick black, which he�ll occasionally bleach to a blonde-orange. His complexion, a pale milk tea, has recently suffered the return of rather constant acne due to the cave hold ordeal. Dark coco eyes are usually down cast in public, and his shoulders are typically rounded in a hunch that makes him look even smaller then he is. He�s the quiet, geeky guy that you only notice when you almost run into him � and it makes you kinda uncomfortable to notice.

Personality: Pretty much anything he encounters he is either scared of or embarrassed by � or both. At twenty-four, he is feeling as if he ought to be making a bigger contribution to the colony�s survival. The only problem is, he just doesn�t see himself as a person capable of the heroics needed in times like these. So, he�ll listen to people who seem to know what they�re doing and try and muddle through. Karusai is very loyal to his family. Really his only motive in life is to make them proud, and he feels he has failed in that since Thread started falling. He�s quite daunted by women, and as a result of his lack of relationships has a bit of an obsession with animated females.

Background: Born the youngest of four, Ru�s early childhood was quite uneventful. His parents both had good jobs at the station, and he was only moderately coddled as the baby of the family. During the formation of the PERN colony, the couple was accepted as contractors along with their eldest son. Of university age, the middle children stayed in FSP space while 13 yr old Ru went with his parents.

Life in the colony was reasonably good for Karusai. He was never a very social boy, but he was content going to school at Landing and frequenting the rec. computer labs. He specialized in botany because it seemed a valuable profession.

With the coming of Thread, his family was divided. Akihiro was working on a weather station outside, and fell under the first deadly fall. Saitoshi immediately sought revenge � wishing to honor his father by blasting the organism from the sky. Karusai was shocked and scared, not only by his father�s death but by his mother�s sorrow and the quiet rage in his brother�s eyes. He ran away.

Fleeing north with his mother, he would only face more hardship in the caves under Malloren�s closing grasp. The quiet young man watched his mother decline further, shrinking into a sad shadow of her former self under the weight of her husband�s death and the oppressive conditions at Cave Hold. When Emiko off handedly murmured something about one of the nurses planning a return South, he knew that they had to go. So he ran, again.

Back at New Landing, it was some relief to find Saitoshi doing well. Emiko and Karusai moved in with him and his wife, and began the slow recovery from their hard journey. While the eldest brother did everything he could for Emiko, when they were alone it was clear to Karusai that Saitoshi looked down on him for running away from Thread and failing to take care of their mother. Equally clear was that his brother expected Ru to make up for his cowardice and honor his family. Saitoshi spoke highly of the dragon project; how it was the way their father would be revenged. And always, he brought up the fact that he was too old to be a candidate for the project.

With his brother�s less then subtle prompting, Karusai finally applied for the final batch of engineered eggs. The idea of being part of an experimental Thread fighting program is terrifying to Ru, but he must do it. He is committed to making up for his cowardice, and bringing honor and pride to his family.

Family/Friends:
Akihiro, father, Mech. Engineer, (deceased - Thread)
Emiko, mother, 58, pharmacologist (refugee � NL)
Saitoshi, brother, 32 yrs, Mech. Engineer/Pilot (NL)

Hobbies & Skills: computer games � he is a master of hand-eye coordination, non-realism/cartoon style sketching, old terran vids

If your persona were a song, the title: TBD

Pets: Had two blues and a green fire-lizard. All three abandoned him when he went North.