Broad transcription: /ˈmɛtri ˌvaʊ̯lːəˈhamːə ɛʃk teːn/
Date of birth [translated]: October 19th, 33 years ago
Metri was born and raised in the realm of Esck on Taen, a habitable ring structure in orbit of gas giant Illys in the Abrach system. Owing to the rapid growth of cultural and educational exchange between Taen and its suzerain, the Sfaalic Imperial Cluster, Metri developed something of an obsession over “basic humanity” and transhumanism. Metri, like nearly all other Taenites, has a deeply-held belief that she is “human basic”, i.e. neither genetically engineered nor artificially modified.
Metri spent much of her youth researching the different strains of humans in the Sfaalic Empire, tracing and eventually drawing her own anatomical diagrams, requesting documents on human genotypes and phenotypes from educational institutions, and trying to measure the differences and trace the similarities between the peoples of different worlds. She applied for the Sfaalic Empire's University Exchange Program and studied genetics at [name of university, name of world].
An incident occurred in the final year of Metri's degree where an acquaintance of hers, [name of Hannah's character], who studied economics and law, played a prank in the lab where she conducted her tests and organized her materials. This prank turned to disaster, as it irreparably damaged Metri's research materials and fouled the results of an ongoing test. She chased him out of the lab with a handful of unused specimen dishes, flinging them at him until he escaped down the hall, with the glass shattering on the floor in his wake.
With little time remaining until graduation, Metri forged her test results and gave a shaky presentation at the conclusion of her capstone course. She scarcely managed to graduate.
With her botched genetic research project as the flagship of her portfolio, Metri's work crumbled under scrutiny and she was unable to attain gainful employment in her field. She registered her unemployment with the university system and was promptly picked up by draft for the Sfaalic Expeditionary Service, working as a scout and salvager to assist Sfaalic Imperial forces in the Red Feather War. Metri's resentment toward [name of Hannah's character] grew even deeper.
Near the end of Metri's term of service, her salvage group was dispatched to search for abandoned weapons technology on the surface of the planet Nevir in the Kvin system. Upon finding a hidden cache of chemical and radiological munitions hidden in a swamp, the team quickly began examining the salvage for damage. This revealed that one of the chemical bombs present had actually been slowly leaking for some time, and disturbing the bomb caused the leak to suddenly effuse the remainder of the bomb's chemical charge. Combined with the foul-smelling and slightly corrosive compounds suspended in Nevir's atmosphere, the filters of their semi-vacc suits' air scrubbers deteriorated almost instantly. Most of the crew suffered respiratory seizures as they attempted to return to the ship. Metri was the sole survivor. One of her lungs was damaged beyond repair and was replaced with one grown according to her own genetic code.
The Expeditionary Service's investigation of this incident was swift, though not especially thorough. Investigators asserted that Metri and her team were in violation of hazardous materials handling protocols, and thus the Service refused to cover the medical expenses of her lung replacement and subsequent physical therapy. Metri resigned from the Expeditionary Service and took her story to a wartime news reporter. Her story made the rounds in a smaller news circuit and was picked up by musician, scientist, and anti-war activist Cyphrus [rest of name], who composed and performed a piece based on her plight and donated a portion of the song's sales to offset her medical debt.
Still in debt and even farther from her desired career, Metri's resentment of [name of Hannah's character] – who seemed to be making a name for himself in Sfaalic Imperial politics – dissolved into resignation. She sought and found employment with Anjen Mercantile and worked on the merchant marine vessel MV Sure to Follow for several years, eventually accruing enough money to pay off her medical debt and still have a modest savings afterward.
In this time of relative quietude, Metri came to follow the journalism and advocacy of [name of Iain's character], and grew more in touch with the faith from her homeworld known as the Longing Search. Metri had an unshakeable feeling that humanity's affairs in the local star cluster were subject to some unknown forces, that nobody really knew what was going on, and that she really wanted to find out.
Metri is 183cm tall and weighs 68kg. She has thick, curly, light brown hair that descends as far as her shoulderblades, deep violet eyes, and tan skin that takes on an olive undertone in the right light. She bears a modest bust and a toned figure. Much of Metri's physiology, and indeed her survival of the Nevir incident, are owed to genetic alterations made by the predecessor civilization which colonized Taen, though neither Metri nor her fellow Taenites are aware of this.