Zara Morgan

Name: Zara Morgan

Age: 22

Gender: Female

Species: Part Terran, probably part some sort of magical being on her mother’s side of the family. Her mom never told her what the species was, or even if she had mixed species ancestry at all, but Zara suspects it.

Languages: Galactic Sign, Galactic Common.

Notable powers/Abilities: Light control. Can create realistic illusions by controlling light, although the effects are purely visual and have no effect on physical reality. Her illusions take some focus to make convincing; if she has to make one in a hurry it won't be as perfectly detailed as one she takes time to prepare. Her powers are most effective when she’s close to the illusion, her illusions start to fade when she’s too far (more than 20ft or so) from the illusion.
When she sleeps, she can’t control her powers, so people nearby often end up seeing indistinct ghostly shapes. Nothing identifiable, just… things moving. It’s spooky and a lot of people get freaked out by it.
She can't create light, she just controls it. So her power can't be used at all in pitch darkness.

Also, weirdly, Zara finds staying in absolute darkness for long stretches of time physically uncomfortable. It gives her a headache. So even though it makes it easier for people to discover her magic, she tries to sleep near a light source of some sort. A night light or the annoying glow of too-bright status lights on electronics can usually keep the headache away.

Social Class/Community Status: Traveler

Physical Description: Ref pic. 5'7", 150lb. Medium brown skin. Brown eyes. Short, curly dark hair.

Typical Clothing/Equipment: Uses black behind-the-ear hearing aids. Wears sturdy, comfortable clothes that have been repeatedly patched over the years. She wears a utility knife and pistol holstered on her belt.

Personality/History:
Was born on a planet that was unaffiliated with any empire. It had a weak government and not much money to go around, but it was a good place to disappear, which was probably why her mother chose to move there.
Zara had a fairly normal childhood until her parents died when she was fourteen. She stayed with her paternal grandparents for about a year after that, before deciding to leave them for fear of them discovering her magic. Knowing that her magic would be discovered if she went into foster care, she decided instead to fend for herself.
When she was sixteen, when she managed to get a job aboard a merchant ship and left her homeworld. Since then she’s been roaming between empires, taking jobs on various ships and never staying with one crew for long.

Her mother, who had light magic as well, taught her that slavers would want her for her magic, so she keeps her powers carefully hidden no matter where she goes. The idea of telling people about them is frightening to her. Besides, the element of surprise makes her magic more useful in dangerous situations.

Zara is deaf. She uses hearing aids, which are useful for hearing things that are happening, and they let her identify words in some situations. Without them she can only hear very loud sounds. She lipreads, but like her hearing aids, lipreading isn't 100% reliable as a way to tell what someone is saying, so she prefers to use both at once when possible. She has a noticeable deaf accent, but speaks clearly, since she's practiced a lot.
Galactic Sign was the first language she learned as a child, and is still her preferred language. She rarely meets people who know it though, so mostly she uses Common.

She has a pretty good intuition about people, it's a skill she had to hone both to survive as a runaway teenager, and to successfully lipread people. She's not always right about people, but the fact that she's managed to switch crews so often without ending up with any really bad ones, means she has a knack for it. Joining new crews still makes her nervous, but she trusts her judgement enough to do it.

Hobbies/Interests: Loves light, and all the ways it can be used. Holograms, painting, drawing, things that glitter or just look cool.
She's interested in technology, she likes learning how it works.
She also likes tea. Earl Grey, Green, or herbal, it doesn't really matter. She thinks they're all good.

Religion/Beliefs: Agnostic

Education/Special Training: Learned various survival skills over the years, such as mending things, cooking, and talking her way into or out of situations. Can hold her own in a fight, although she’s learned it’s usually wiser to avoid fights when possible.