Samira Kernher (Character)
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This article is considered to be In Character by its author. |
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| Name | Samira Kernher |
| Gender | Female |
| Race |  |
| Bloodline |    |
| Father | Aarif Fjörkir |
| Mother | Reshawna Fjörkir |
| Siblings | Asiya Fjörkir (sister) Mikal Fjörkir (brother) |
| Extended Family | Astera Zandraki (cousin) Fjörkir Clan |
| Date of Birth | 86.12.08 |
| Place of Birth | Sertene-Nauon, Numayriyah, Thebeka III, Domain, Amarr Empire |
| Height | 1.67m (5'6") |
| Weight | 58 kg (128 lbs) |
| Licensed | 115.01.27 (28) |
| Occupation | Capsuleer, missionary |
| Education | Dabara College (BS) Republic University (CP) |
| Corporation |  |
| Religion | Reformist Amarr |
| Affiliation |   Ardishapur Family |
Samira Kernher (born December 8, YC86) is a Sebiestor capsuleer and former slave who chose to remain loyal to the Amarr Empire. Her choice to stay in the Empire despite being released from slavery resulted in praise from Amarr, who believed that Kernher was an example of successful Reclaiming, and derision from Minmatar, who considered Kernher a traitor.
Kernher was born a slave in city of Dam-Sertene on Thebeka III in Amarr. The high generation and success of her family afforded Kernher many education opportunities, and she earned a degree in Environmental Engineering. Kernher's family were emancipated YC107 and moved to the Republic, where she entered Republic University's capsule program.
Kernher returned to the Empire shortly after becoming a capsuleer and joined Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris. She later flew alongside Caldari fleets such as Pyre Falcon and Ishuk-Raata in an effort to improve Amarr-Caldari relations, and also fought against Nauplius after his slave sacrifices.
Kernher spearheaded PIE and SFRIM efforts to collect sleeper components for the Empire's research drive in YC116, which resulted in the release of the Confessor-class tactical destroyer and the awarding of the honorary rank of Fabricator-General to Ascentior of PIE. Kernher also participated in several humanitarian efforts, including Morwen Lagann's Hearth and Home relief for Caldari Prime, the evacuation of IRED workers during the Tsuruma Incident, transportation of refugees for Aurora Arcology, and the Pakhshi Peace Conference.
Following the Amarrian Succession trials in YC118, Kernher experienced a crisis of faith that lead to her distancing herself from mainstream Amarrian belief and developing closer relations with Minmatar confidants. This eventually resulted in Kernher leaving Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris and founding the Avetat Order, a Reformist Amarrian religious organization. Kernher's growing distaste for the current state of the Amarr Empire has lead her to become an outspoken critic of the Empire's leadership and especially the Khanid Kingdom.
Early Life, 86-107
Childhood and Education
Kernher was born in servitude to the Numayr Family on the planet of Thebeka III, at the edge of the Ardishapur half of the Domain region of the Amarr Empire. Though not a true oceanic planet, Thebeka III had only very few land masses with the majority clumped together at the poles. Kernher and her family lived in the slave district of Nauon in the city of Dam-Sertene on the continent of Numayriyah. Numayriyah was situated at the equator and so was known for very warm temperatures.
Kernher and her family were owned by Lord Khalil Numayr, the Holder of Numayriyah, but for all practical purposes they belonged to Lord Numayr's niece and the Governor of Dam-Sertene, Adila Numayr, by Custodial Servitude Contract. Kernher's father, Aarif, worked as a technical manager for Adila and had previously been in Lord Numayr's engineering department. Kernher's mother, Reshawna, was a financial accountant for the Holder of Thebeka, and had met Aarif during business conferences between their masters. Reshawna was bought by Lord Numayr after asking for permission from the two nobles to start a family with Aarif.
Kernher was the youngest of three children, born shortly after her family had been contracted to Adila. Kernher had a positive relationship with her siblings, but she regularly butted heads with her brother, Mikal. Mikal, who strongly opposed the slavery of the Minmatar, did not understand how his younger sister could be taken in so fully by the Amarr faith. Mikal argued that they should take pride in their heritage, but Kernher came to despise that heritage.
Kernher was allowed relative freedom for her first seven years, though she was given extensive education on the faith from her parents and slave and Amarr lecturers. These lessons established fundamental principles that Kernher would carry for the rest of her life, and included traditional religious education and training in proper manners and etiquette. Foremost among the lessons that Kernher received was that the Amarr were God's Chosen, blessed with bringing his message to the rest of the universe. Very little information was provided of the world outside of Ardishapur space during these lessons, and even less about the world beyond the Empire's borders. It would not be until many years later that Kernher would begin to learn that the societies beyond the Empire were anything more than primitive faithless in need of guidance.
As a child, Kernher was quiet and withdrawn, though she had something of a curious streak that was encouraged by her siblings. Though she paid attention during her lessons, she had a habit of wandering when she wasn't watched, and toying with objects that weren't hers. She was strictly disciplined for these transgressions, though this only encouraged her to hide her activities.
The high status of Kernher's parents--many generations of servitude and favored--provided her and her siblings better opportunities than many other slaves in the Empire. While Kernher did work as a domestic servant at Adila's estate in the early evenings and weekends, she was also enrolled in an Amarrian school to continue her education into her teenage years. Despite the good prospects for her future, Kernher had a difficult time in the school. As a Minmatar and a slave she was a focal point for harassment by some of the other students, all of whom came from commoner families and some with worse fortunes than Kernher's relatively pampered upbringing. This had a formative effect on her personality and resulted in Kernher shutting herself inside instead of retaliating. Her religious education served as a validation for the discrimination, resulting in Kernher internalizing them.
Kernher's brother, meanwhile, took a more hostile response and was suspended from school on several occasions. After a particularly violent encounter with another student he was flogged and dismissed entirely, contracted out instead as an apprentice to a construction company in the city. Only Kernher and her sister actually managed to finish school, though Asiya performed much better. Kernher was envious of her sister's abilities, and she attempted to emulate her as she grew older.
Kernher found few friends during her time at the school. She fell in mostly with other slave children and the odd commoner willing to associate with them. Few of these relations persisted past graduation, and none remained by the time Kernher's family moved to the Republic. Kernher's closest relations remained with her siblings, especially her sister.
Higher Education and Emancipation
Kernher was sent to higher education at a college in the city of Dabara shortly after finishing her primary schooling. She was temporarily contracted to Murad Numayr, a cousin of Adila and the Governor of Dabara, for the duration of her stay, and she lived in a dormitory in the city's slave district. Similar to her time in primary schooling, Kernher was given custodial work during the majority of her free hours. Her place of work was an office owned by Murad. Murad took an interest in Kernher, who had developed into an attractive young woman by this time, but his religious beliefs regarding class and ethnic separation convinced him to suppress his desires. He did, however, endeavor to treat Kernher well and gave her many free hours to study along with a gold-coated personal datapad as a gift. Kernher ended up becoming enamored with Murad. The datapad she came to treasure, and she took it with her wherever she went.
Emperor Heideran VII passed away in YC105 from his long battle with Turit disease, triggering sorrow across the Empire. Kernher had attended several local vigils held by slave clergy of the Salvation Church of Blessed Servitude when news had spread of Heideran's falling health, and she set up a small memorial in her dormitory after his death. During the Succession Trials in the next few weeks, Kernher expressed support for Heir Idonis Ardishapur and was saddened by his loss and subsequent ritual suicide.
Kernher was pushed through an accelerated three-year school-to-work program at Dabara College that ended with an Environmental Engineering degree and an apprenticeship at a thermoionic desalination plant owned by the Numayr Family. The plant was one of many in Thebeka's water industry, which worked to provide potable water to many worlds and stations within Domain and the greater Amarr Empire.
Kernher would have little time to actually work at the plant, however, as her family was released shortly after her graduation. In the pattern of Emperor Doriam II's slave emancipations, and in recognition of their long generations of service, Lord Numayr was encouraged to free the Kernher bloodline. He was strongly opposed on this by Adila, who argued that she had put a significant investment into the Kernher children's educations which would not be returned if they were released. She demanded compensation or a delay of the emancipation until they had made up the cost. Murad, encouraged by his affections for Kernher, eventually settled the dispute himself by paying the education expenses out of his own pocket.
The release came as a surprise to the children, though Aarif and Reshawna had been hearing plans for it for some time before. The two had been considering moving out of the Empire, reasoning that they would have an easier time starting fresh somewhere where they were not discriminated against. They had initially considered moving to the Federation, where they believed they had some relatives already, but Mikal made a strong argument for moving to the Republic. Kernher alone expressed a desire to stay in the Empire, believing moving to be both frightening and sinful, though Asiya took her side out of sympathy.
The decision was made for the Kernhers in early June of YC107. After Omir Sarikusa's Blood Raiders released an Insorum prototype and weaponized hallucinogen over Mabnen I and triggered a slave uprising, riots broke out across the Empire as Amarr mobs took out their fear on slave districts. Though Sertene-Nauon was largely unaffected by the rioting due to Thebeka being a deep core world and one where Vitoc was only rarely used, the panic helped Mikal convince his parents that the family would be better off in the Republic.
Settling in the Minmatar Republic, 107-115
Immigration Difficulties
Kernher's family used what little funds they had to purchase a one-way ticket to the Republic. They were unable to afford passage deep into the Republic borders and so were forced to settle on the Brutor Tribe Treasury station orbiting the sixth planet in the Rens system, a popular trade hub that was only two jumps away from the Republic's border with the Ammatar Mandate. And though it would not reach its peak capacity until after Jamyl Sarum's slave emancipation decree, the system's proximity to Amarrian space made it already a popular refugee port and it regularly took in immigrants and freed slaves (legal or otherwise) from the Empire and the Mandate.
Once arriving, the Kernhers were processed at a RJD office and given citizenship cards. Republic law dictated that any former slave who entered Minmatar space would be granted automatic citizenship, though this basic citizenship meant little as it lacked the tribal membership that actually cemented an individual's place in the Republic. Without tribal membership the Kernhers lacked access to all but the most limited civil services. They were however given basic food and shelter at a Sebiestor tribal dormitory after registering with the local Sebiestor Tribe Center. They were also given free naturalization courses, which included tutoring in Modern Standard Matari, Sebiestor spirituality, Matari culture, and basic education for slaves who had received little, so that they would be able to pass the rites required to earn their Voluvals and full tribal membership.
The tribal dormitory, located in a Rust Quarter in the Kaihu habitation module, was small and afforded Kernher and her family little personal privacy. They were provided a one-room tenement, one of dozens of similarly-sized rooms on their floor. The poor living conditions, worse than their small apartment in Sertene-Nauon, lead to domestic disputes. Kernher and her brother argued frequently, as Kernher blamed him for forcing the family to leave the Empire for their current situation. This period was stressful enough that the assassination of Doriam II, which took place not a month after Kernher and her family had arrived in the Republic, was hardly ever mentioned. Kernher even ceased attending to her daily prayers after a few months, a practice she would not again pick up until moving back to the Empire eight years later.
Kernher found her biggest difficulties outside the home, however. Her continued adherence to the Amarr faith, which included attendance at a small religious center in the basement of a local sandwich shop, resulted in stigma from other Minmatar in the dormitory and naturalization program. Other freed slaves were especially hostile, as many had been subjected to traumatic incidents or served in difficult labor jobs like mining and despised the Amarr. The golden datapad that Murad had given Kernher while she was attending Dabara College proved to be especially provocative, as it blatantly expressed her affiliation through its embroidered Imperial Seal. She was frequently asked to leave it at home and told that it was disrespectful for her to carry it around with her. When Kernher asked to have the datapad blessed by the Kaihu Sebiestor shaman as her talisman, a part of Sebiestor spiritual traditions, she was refused and told to select a more culturally-sensitive item. The datapad was eventually destroyed by the 4th Street Holders, a local gang of former slaves who regularly harassed Kernher and other Amarr faithful and who were later responsible for a stabbing at the Amarr religious center. These incidents prompted Kernher to stop working towards tribal membership.
Becoming Minmatar
Kernher's family eventually found jobs and earned enough to move out of the dormitory to a larger apartment in Kaihu, outside the Rust areas. Kernher gained employment with station environmental services, though she received only minimum wage due to her lack of tribal membership. Despite this, employment had a positive effect on Kernher and her life was able to stabilize. She was proud to have her own income, and she developed a habit of spending much of her small savings on hoarding collectibles, decorations, and electronics. During this time Kernher even established a limited social life with some of her coworkers, though she remained distant to most. She did however develop a close friendship with a Brutor, Nafisa, whose influence eventually convinced Kernher to begin naturalization efforts again. Nafisa also introduced Kernher to dryweed and mindflood.
As the Rens VI Brutor Tribe Treasury Station was a major trading hub for capsuleers, Kernher gradually became aware of the business being conducted by the pilots in the station's capsuleer sections. Her work in environmental services allowed her limited access to the area for maintenance inspections, and she was startled at the extreme amounts of money that capsuleers used for even the most basic of goods. Following prompting from Nafisa, and in the hopes of earning enough money to never have to work again in her life, Kernher began researching capsuleers. She set aside some of her savings to take a genetic screening, which showed her as a positive match for capsule compatibility. The test results were sent to the three Republic schools that offered capsuleer programs, and each sent Kernher invitations. Kernher was discouraged by the many other requirements for entry however, which included high education fees and levels of physical fitness, and she planned on not pursuing it, but pressure from Nafisa as well as Kernher's siblings eventually persuaded her to make the effort. She began daily exercises and submitted grant requests, and she took a second, part time job.
While preparing for making a formal application to the capsuleer schools, Kernher was able to finish her naturalization. For the final test she took a week off from her busy schedule to travel to Mikramurka on Matar, where she was required to live off the land for several days. She passed this test without incident, despite her dislike of the cold weather. Following this test, she returned to Kaihu and undertook her voluval ritual. She received the Arched Door on her back, symbolizing a rejection of one's previous life. Most of her peers and especially Mikal and Nafisa perceived this as a sign that Kernher had finally turned away from her Amarrian upbringing and learned to embrace her Matari heritage. This sentiment disturbed Kernher, however, and brought into renewed focus the recognition that she was living in a nation actively opposed to her homeland, and that her embracing of this nation and its culture was a betrayal of what she believed in. Ironically, rather than the voluval ceremony closing the door on her past it instead reopened it. The voluval and the Sebiestor naming tattoo she was finally granted, signifying Kernher's acceptance into the Sebiestor Tribe, would ultimately became sources of shame as well as pride.
Republic University
Through a combination of working two jobs, a grant from a Circle established to help former slaves adjust to freedom in the Republic, and a loan to cover the remainder of the cost, Kernher was able to acquire the funds to enroll in the Republic University's capsule program. She moved to the Hulm VIII Republic University School station. Kernher overall performed well in the capsule program and she was considered as having only a low risk of mindlock. Her upbringing and genetic compatibility made her better able to endure the demanding physical portions of the program than many of her peers. She began faltering significantly by the end of the program, however, as a result of a frentix habit starting in her second year.
Kernher sought out several extracurricular activities during her time at the university. In her first year she participated in the university swim team, where she managed times fast enough to participate in the annual interplanetary competition but failed to place in the top three. She additionally took part-time employment as a receptionist at a local salon, and she joined a local Circle protesting cloning development after becoming aware in her first year of how closely linked capsuleerdom was with cloning. In addition, as a citizen of the Republic and Sebiestor tribeswoman by this point, Kernher was called on to serve her mandatory two years of military service. With capsule classes during the weekdays and military training and reserve service on the weekends, plus her part-time work and extracurricular activities, Kernher experienced very high levels of stress during this period, and turned to frentix to cope. Kernher eventually quit the swimming team, and she was fired from the salon for poor performance.
During Kernher's time at the university, large changes were made to the political state of the cluster as a result of the developments of YC110 and YC111, which included the Republic attack on CONCORD, the outbreak of war between the Empire and the Republic, and the murder of Amarrian preachers of Matari ethnicity such as Abel Jarek and Uldas Dreeter. Kernher was greatly distressed by these events, though she experienced little hostility for her affiliation in comparison to her earlier years as she had by this time almost entirely ceased associating with Amarrian elements in the Republic in order to avoid discrimination. She retained her Amarrian beliefs in private, however, and she was frightened by what she saw as a radicalization of the Republic.
Kernher concluded the capsule program in late YC114. By this time the Republic University was beginning to transition towards a mandatory euthanization and cloning requirement for graduation, but Kernher was able to license under the old regulations.
Pod Pilot, 115-present
Kernher did not spend long in the Republic after receiving her capsuleer license. Having never wanted to move from the Empire to begin with, she had in her eight years in the Republic come to miss Amarr and saw an opportunity to return with her new economic freedom. Kernher met with her family for a last time and cited her concerns with Republic life, which had been exaggerated by Shakor's administration. Kernher's parents and sister were disappointed but understood her reasons, however Mikal was greatly opposed to Kernher's choice and the two engaged in another heated argument. This resulted in a negatively charged departure, and Kernher has almost entirely avoided contact with her family in the time since aside from an annual ISK gift during the holiday season.
Kernher returned to Thebeka once back in the Empire and sought out her former custodians. Adlia Numayr offered to employ her, but Murad suggested that Kernher join the famed capsuleer organization Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris, which had recently begun a sister corporation that allowed for members of Matari ethnicity. Despite PIE's focus on combat operations as a member of the 24th Imperial Crusade, the Empire's capsuleer militia, Kernher applied to and joined the organization. For her first several months she served the organization solely in an industrial and domestic capacity, mining and producing laser turrets for PIE ships and working as a manager for the PIE-owned AVCL Connection, a capsuleer restaurant tailored towards supporting Amarr-Caldari cooperation.
Despite her attempts to avoid cloning Kernher had her pod destroyed in February YC115, only a few short weeks after her graduation from Republic University. Kernher, in a salvage vessel, joined a PIE fleet operation, but acted independently as a scout when the fleet divided to defend a novice complex. When a member of the Republic militia, the Tribal Liberation Force, came upon Kernher's ship, she panicked and blind warped to the nearest celestial. She came out of warp in the middle of a Republic fleet, which swiftly terminated her ship and her pod before she could regain her presence of mind. Due to Kernher's beliefs about cloning, the event traumatized her and she refused to interact with anyone for several weeks.
Kernher eventually began operating combat vessels in spite her earlier experience in the warzone. The Tribal Liberation Force had achieved a high level of success, with only Sahtogas remaining in the 24th Imperial Crusade's hands. Captain Aldrith Shutaq, Kernher's superior commanding officer, persuaded Kernher to join the war effort after revealing that he had discovered Kernher's frentix abuse. Kernher would go on to become a skilled skirmish pilot, flying primarily Slicer-class frigates in support of PIE fleet operations. Her entrance into the war was too late to participate in the reclaiming of Arzad, a major TLF stronghold that had resisted assault many times before, but she joined PIE in its efforts to hold onto the system and push back the TLF offensive elsewhere in the Bleak Lands.
Early in her capsule career, Kernher learned that she had a capsuleer cousin, Astera Zandraki. Zandraki was only distantly related, from a branch of the family that had settled in the Federation generations earlier, and the two had little in common, but Kernher's fallout with her family in the Republic resulted in her pursuing closer ties. The two largely remain distant however, though this connection had the lasting effect of bringing Kernher closer to Pieter Tuulinen, a Caldari capsuleer who had been previously dating Zandraki. Kernher was attracted to Tuulinen, but Kernher's bashfulness and Tuulinen's previous association with Kernher's cousin resulted in her not pursuing a relationship. Tuulinen and Kernher instead became close friends, though Tuulinen's later marriage to Desiderya Kyiokkinen and his corporation's dealings with Sansha's Nation-loyalist corporation True Slave Foundations caused significant strain on their friendship.
In late YC115 PIE faced attack by the Stormcrows mercenary organization. The Stormcrows' services had been purchased by Duchess Odelya d'Hanguest, a Khanid Kingdom Royalist and supporter of the Order of St. Tetrimon, who opposed PIE and the Imperial government. Though Kernher retained strong opinions against the Stormcrows for several months after, she eventually became close with Stormcrows commander Jude Kopenhagen. Through their friendship Kernher was able to persuade Kopenhagen to open dialogue with PIE leadership, allowing for a normalization of relations between the two organizations. As a result the Stormcrows and PIE would later work together in the fight against the extremist Nauplius.
Kernher had several disciplinary incidents during her capsule career as a result of her frentix abuse. In fall of YC115 she was ordered to undergo rehabilitation and was as a result interned at a Holder's estate for two months. During her time working on the estate she was additionally flogged as a punishment for her continued adherence to some aspects of Matari spirituality and her refusal to allow her voluval to be removed. Though raised as a slave, this was the first time that she had been shockwhipped. Later, in mid-YC116, Kernher was discovered to have relapsed during an encounter in which she drew a firearm on Holder Erin Savanarola in response to a perceived threat. Kernher was again rehabilitated, this time at Mercy's Keep under the oversight of the Order of the Weeping Suns.
YC116 was overall a distressing year for Kernher, beginning with her revelation and exposure of Pyre Falcon's dealings with True Slave Foundations and including her rehabilitation at Mercy's Keep. More significantly for Kernher however were the activities of Khanid capsuleer Nauplius. Nauplius, an Amarrian extremist, provoked a stir among the capsuleer community for his large and frequent sacrifices of slaves in the name of the Red God of the Sani Sabik faith. Kernher's upbringing left her feeling empathy for the slaves and she acted as one of Nauplius's most vocal opponents; Kernher was the first capsuleer to take offensive action against him even despite the standings loss she received for attacking another member of the 24th Imperial Crusade. Kernher's activities against Nauplius would however be greatly reduced following his successful termination of Kernher's capsule, resulting in her second cloning. This has caused Kernher to cease actively hunting him.
In October YC116 Kernher spearheaded PIE's efforts in acquiring Sleeper components for the Empire. The Empire was competing with the other three CONCORD signatories to acquire the components after the Sisters of EVE discovered new developments in Sleeper activity. PIE's efforts helped Amarr achieve victory in the race, and PIE director Admiral Ascentior would go on to be named Honorary Fabricator-General of the Imperial Navy by Grand Admiral Kezti Sundara.
YC117 was marked by the emergence of the Drifters and the death of Empress Jamyl I. Kernher was adamant about declaring the Circadian Seekers and Drifters invaders from their first appearance, due to the ease of their ability to penetrate Amarrian space and their refusal to engage in any diplomatic communication with the Empire or CONCORD. With evidence coming to light that the Drifters were of Jovian biology, and following the mass decloaking of the Jovian observatories, the unauthorized scanning of Jamyl's Avatar-class titan by the Society of Conscious Thought, and the murder of Jamyl by Drifters a week later, Kernher took to calling for the removal of the Jovian Directorate from CONCORD and for severe retributive action to be taken against them. She has expressed similar sentiment against the Society of Conscious Thought after the Directorate appointed them as their representatives, arguing that there is no justification for a corporation being given a seat on an international council. Kernher's opinion of CONCORD as a whole has suffered since these incidents.
The second half of YC117 and most of YC118 was focused on the new Succession Trials and the ascension of Empress Catiz I. Though Kernher did not fly in the Succession Trials, she hosted a Galnet support site for Yonis Ardishapur and participated in practice matches with one of the PIE fleets supporting him. Kernher caused a stir during this time when she called out the Khanid Kingdom for choosing to allow edeity, an admitted blood raider, to compete for the championship. This resulted in major vocal conflict between Imperial and Kingdom loyalists, and included Kingdom representatives and tournament officials. Though edeity would later lose the qualification match, this incident soured the reputation of Kernher and PIE among Khanid Kingdom loyalists. After the completion of the trials and the victory of Catiz Tash-Murkon, Kernher replaced her right hand with a silver cybernetic in the fashion of Ardishapur heirs in memory of Yonis Ardishapur, who would go on to commit Shathol'Syn alongside the other losing heirs.
Changing Beliefs and Rebellion
The ascension of Catiz to the throne of Amarr proved to be a significant crisis of faith for Kernher, who viewed the death of Yonis and the rule of the "Merchant Empress" as the final nail in the coffin of her hope for the spiritual well-being of the cluster. She spent the rest of YC118 and YC119 isolating herself as she descended into a spiral of self-destruction. She relapsed into frentix abuse, sought out pain, and engaged in a slew of intimate relations with strangers in an effort to debase herself. Those few people she did maintain contact with during this period were individuals firmly detached from Amarr, Minmatar agitators like Arrendis Culome and Mizhara Del'thul. These two became among Kernher's closest friends as they helped pull her away from total ruin, though their influence presented a major challenge to her already-weakened faith.
Kernher engaged in another piece of humanitarian service in YC118 when she briefly departed PIE in order to establish an Astrahus-class citadel in Gallente space to facilitate the rehabilitation of traumatized minmatar recovered from Nauplius. This was done in order to de-escalate a conflict that had arisen between Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque and Mizhara over how best to aid the victims. Once the rehabilitation efforts were finished, Kernher returned to PIE.
Kernher's reunion with PIE didn't last long, and within two years Kernher had again left PIE following an internal fallout over her choice to work with Mizhara Del'thul to stop Nauplius from sacrificing another one million slaves. Kernher then went on to found a Reformist Amarrian church, the Avetat Order, or Cail Avetatu.
The period immediately following her departure from PIE showed a less restrained Kernher, willing to publicly accuse Imperial institutions and even emperors of corruption. This quickly lead to condemnation from Khanid Holder Alar Chakaid, who threatened Kernher with torture and maiming. Less than two days later, on October 8th YC120, Kaihu was bombed by weaponized Deathglow. The hallucinogenic chemical spread throughout the ward and resulted in over two dozen deaths with many more wounded. Among those injured was Kernher's sister, Asiya, the only member of the family still living within Kaihu.
Positive that Chakaid was behind the bombing, Kernher approved a retaliatory attack to be carried out on Chakaid's holdings in the Khanid Kingdom. The attack was orchestrated by Mizhara Del'thul and the Network, a freedom fighter organization operating in the Empire. The attack resulted in the near-complete destruction of the warclone stocks of Chakaid's mercenary regiment, the 19th Royal Uhlans, including a personal warclone of Chakaid himself. After the attack, Kernher publicly claimed responsibility and declared herself to be in a state of feud with the Chakaid Family.
The fallout from the attack was immediate. Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris formally excised Kernher from their service records and recalled all of her awards and commendations. Furthermore, Chakaid filed criminal charges against Kernher to the Theology Council. Chakaid would later fabricate evidence of Deathglow use in bodies of agents killed by his security forces, in an attempt to tie Kernher (and Mizhara) to the Blood Raiders.
Events were not over, though. Shortly after, additional Deathglow attacks were carried out against the Varaz Family on the planet Oris and across the entire system of Kahah during a visit by Khanid queen Zidarez. Kahah, a Khanid system known for its food production and slave markets, suffered greatly under the attack. Partially provoked by the hallucinogenic properties of Deathglow, and partially in response to brutal Khanid pacification efforts, slave uprisings broke out across planets throughout the system, strongly emulating the events of Mabnen a decade earlier. The incident provoked cluster-wide response, with the Republic and the Federation threatening sanctions and capsuleers, freedom fighters, and government special forces attempting to provide support to the rebels on the surface.
Kernher was among those capsuleers seeking to provide aid to the rebels. In one of her most direct acts of rebellion, Kernher fought alongside an Ushra'Khan attempt to land a mercenary army on Kahah III to support the slaves on the surface. Kernher fired on Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque vessels, putting herself in opposition to groups she had once been in close rapport with.
Appearance
Kernher has dark skin and eyes. Her thick, wavy black hair is usually kept to shoulder-length.
Kernher is slender and attractive. She was undernourished for several years after becoming a capsuleer, but she has put on more weight and lean muscle recently, thanks to the influence of Mizhara Del'thul and Aria Jenneth.
Kernher has downcast and hooded eyes, framed above by thick sloping eyebrows and below by dark circles. Her eyes and frowny lips give her a weary appearance.
Kernher speaks with an Amarrian dialect. She has a soft voice which is rarely raised in public.
Kernher's back, wrists, and thighs are covered in thin, fine scars, the product of regular self-harm. Much of these scars, especially those on her back, come from ritualized scourging of the flesh in the name of the Amarr religion, but her self-hating beliefs have lead to her to hurting herself even outside of ritual.
As a capsuleer and cyborg, Kernher has several cybernetic and biological alterations to her physical form. These include spinal ports for capsule interfacing, an interchangeable hand prosthesis in the form of the Ardishapur Decree, and a somatasenory neuromesh that incorporates several resistors on the skin surface. She also has several smaller sockets on her body for the insertion or modification of internal implants, including an autoinjector in her left hand.
Once among these implants was a subdermal electronic tracking tag, used to monitor her position while she was a slave, but she lost this chip during her first "death" and did not replace it on subsequent clones.
Samira normally wears a golden Amarr crescent necklace.
Tattoos
Kernher received Minmatar cultural tattoos during her time living in the Republic. She removed her facial Naming Tattoo, which marked her as a member of the Sebiestor Tribe, shortly after returning to the Empire, but has kept her Voluval.
Kernher's Voluval appears on her back in the shape of an arch or n. The shape and location reportedly symbolizes change, crossing from one path to another. When viewed positively it could be seen as the closing of a door to a past life in order to embrace a new beginning, but a negative interpretation could view it as a stubborn refusal to accept change. Kernher's known devotion to the Amarr and the Amarrian religion lead to a negative intrepretation of her Voluval by some in her clan, and Kernher would later claim that it was this message that convinced her to leave the Republic.
Personality
Kernher has a meek and ingratiating presence, developed over her youth while she was a slave to the Amarr. Kernher's experiences in being discriminated against throughout her life have taught her to withdraw inside herself, and she has a very negative self-image. She fears taking responsibility for herself and can be poor at making positive decisions when left on her own. She has a service-oriented personality and desires to be needed and fill a purpose, both in the practical sense and on a universal scale in service to a higher cause like the Amarr faith. This lead to Kernher attempting to squash her emotions and refrain from sharing controversial or anti-authoritarian opinions, though she has slowly become more bold as her confidence in Imperial leadership has faltered.
In public discourse, Kernher comes across as pleasant and intelligent but quiet. She has indelible manners and rarely raises her voice, and she places high value on propriety in herself and others. This can make her detached in conversation and she struggles with small-talk, preferring to only listen and leave the spotlight to those more socially capable than she is. In private with friends and family though, or in public when she is stressed, Kernher's tendency towards dogmatic beliefs can make her demanding, judgmental, and spiteful, primed to point out flaws and mistakes. She gives herself even less leeway than she gives others, as she has internalized the Amarrian contempt of her Minmatar heritage, and this severe self-loathing and general negativity has damaged many of her closer relationships.
Kernher's gentility and insecurity can make her awkward around men or when discussing topics of intimacy. She often harbors deep crushes or passions which are rarely realized beyond evasive leering and flustered stuttering.
Kernher is very honest, stemming from her belief in lying being one of the chief sins in the Amarrian religion. Though she has lied, especially during her time as a slave and the years after, as her confidence has grown so too has her devotion to this virtue. Kernher points to the dishonesty inherent in Amarrian politics as proof of Amarr's fall from grace, as the schemes and power games have lead to an Amarr that puts the pursuit of power over devotion to God. In pursuit of this virtue, Kernher has become almost fanatically honest, telling the truth even when it would be against her own interests in the hopes of proving her commitment to her faith.
Like many Sebiestor, Kernher is known for having an explosive temper. As Kernher attempts to suppress her emotions in her daily life, she rarely allows herself an outlet for negative feelings. This pressure instead builds up until stress and frustration trigger a violent release.
Family
As an area where both Amarr and Minmatar cultures intertwine, Kernher places high value on family. For most of her life the family was Kernher's most stable element, though this has changed since she left them to return to Amarr. This separation represents a major area of turmoil for Kernher. She maintains regular contact with her family, and supports them monetarily where she can (though her sister and brother prefer to make their own way).
Though she has expressed a fear of the responsibility, Kernher wants to build a family of her own. She was opposed to marriage to anyone who was not a faithful True Amarr and member of noble house, out of a desire to give what she viewed to be a proper heritage to her children so that they would be able to live a better life than she had. She has placed less significance on this requirement in recent years, as her feelings on True Amarr and the noble class have diminished, but it remains an important consideration for her.
Kernher had managed to win several marriage offers from noble families at the height of her fame in the Empire, though she dropped her pursuit of marriage after only a few courtship interviews, for unclear reasons. With her having fallen from grace in the Empire, the chance for a noble match is now highly unlikely.
Religious beliefs
As a slave raised in Ardishapur territory, Kernher was taught from a young age to be an adherent of the Amarr faith. She was a member of the Salvation Church of Blessed Servitude, a branch of Amarr oriented towards slaves and the descendants of slaves. As a Salvationist, Kernher believed in the potential for non-Amarr to be forgiven of their sins and find salvation before God. These beliefs resonated with modern orthodoxy, but with an increased attention to the Reclaiming and the necessity of service to the Amarr in purifying the soul. From this base Kernher came to view the Amarr, especially the True Amarr, in an almost divine light. In contrast Kernher had an extremely negative opinion of her own ethnicity and any other race that had not gone through and successfully ascended from blessed servitude.
Kernher's opinion on True Amarr, as well as her opinion on her own ethnicity, has begun to change. Interaction with True Amarr of poor faith, loyalty, or intelligence greatly soured her opinion of them, and her belief in True Amarr broke entirely with Empress Jamyl I's choice to pardon King Khanid II despite his many crimes against the Empire and the Imperial Rite of Faith. Faced with this hypocrisy, Kernher was forced to re-evaluate what she had thought she knew of of True Amarr, and what she had thought she knew of herself and other Minmatar slaves. This has lead to a more balanced outlook on humanity, with actions determining a person's merit rather than their inherent racial qualities.
As a whole, Kernher's beliefs represent both a source of strength and a source of distress. In the Amarr faith Kernher is able to fulfill her need to be part of a higher purpose, but her negativity surrounding her ethnic heritage, inspired by Amarrian ethnocentrism, frequently colored her view to that of God as a hateful rather than benevolent deity. Kernher's extremist beliefs arose principally out of a desire to correct what she viewed as an uncorrectable deficiency. Despite having overcome her hatred of her Minmatar qualities, Kernher remains incredibly self-loathing, and she frequently punishes herself for any action she takes that she perceives as being contrary to her beliefs.
In spite of unfavorable opinions of her Matari heritage, Kernher incorporated several aspects of Matari spirituality into her beliefs following her life in the Republic. This included belief in a spirit world intertwined with the physical world, in which natural spirits and ancestors could exert their influence and in turn be communed with by experienced mediums such as shamans. Kernher has attempted to justify these beliefs within the framework of Scripture through the existence in Amarr orthodoxy of other semi-divine figures such as the sefrim, Garrulor, and Frisceas. Kernher has continued to carry talismans blessed by Matari shamans even after becoming a capsuleer and returning to Amarr.
With her developing disillusionment with hypocrisies in mainstream Amarrian belief, Kernher has been developing beliefs considered heretical by the Amarr Empire. Kernher now identifies as a Tothian Reformist. Her new understanding of God and the world includes the rejection of Amarrian warmongering and slavery, rejection of the emperor as speaking with the voice of God, rejection of much of modern Scripture, and a desire to return to earlier incarnations of the faith which includes the restoration of the Council of Apostles. Kernher looks to the era of the first emperor, Amash-Akura, as the perfect incarnation of the Amarr faith.
Cloning
Kernher has expressed a severe hatred of cloning, noted during her time attending Republic University by her membership in an anti-cloning Circle and in an academic essay she wrote on the subject. In that essay Kernher remarked on the fallacy of defining hard cloning as a transfer of consciousness, though her paper received a poor grade from her Minmatar instructors for citing Amarrian Scripture as a scientific source. Since becoming a capsuleer, Kernher has become even more hostile on the subject. She believes that it drives capsuleers to throw away their lives, and the lives of their crew, on frivolous, destructive, greedy, and suicidal endeavors such as the Empyrean War, which is often referred to as the Pendulum War for its tendency to swing control back and forth with no meaningful or lasting conclusion.
Kernher's own existence as a clone has been observed to be a source of great discomfort, with her frequently claiming that the real Samira Kernher died the day her capsule was destroyed.
In spite of her antagonism against cloning, Kernher has recently started maintaining backup clones. She continues to refuse to use jump clones, however.
Slavery
Kernher once expressed a very high opinion of Amarrian slavery, citing it as a divine and necessary institution that brought slaves closer to God. This belief depended on her understanding of True Amarr and the Holder class as being spiritually, physically, and mentally superior to their slaves, who, guilty of the original sin of apostasy, were lost and in need of guidance and punishment. Kernher's beliefs about slavery were solely about Amarrian slavery, which she believed to be superior to "abusive" non-Amarrian slavery due to its spiritual component.
Kernher's opinions on the institution have recently changed, corresponding to her loss of faith in True Amarr and the Holder class. The hypocrisy of True Amarr Holders routinely having their sins ignored or even forgiven, as happened with King Khanid II, broke Kernher's belief in the "divinely-inspired hierarchy" of Amarrian slavery. In Kernher's eyes, if True Amarr and the Holder class were as spiritually corruptible as the slaves, then they lacked the spiritual authority necessary to hold slaves.
Kernher still believes in Amarrian slavery and the importance of social hierarchy to some degree. She maintains that freedom leads to sin - and that it is the freedom given to members of the Holder class that has corrupted them - and so people must be controlled. As no human can be trusted to the freedom necessary to justly guide slaves, then the system itself does not work. Kernher remains wary of true liberation, though, favoring instead the equal enforcement of law on people of all social levels.
Kernher has demonstrated a sense of solidarity with other slaves that she does not show towards either other Minmatar or Amarr, and so finds companionship easier among other slaves more than with free people. Since becoming a pod pilot, this solidarity has extended to include a strong sense of guardianship of other slaves and she was one of the first capsuleers to take action against Nauplius following his public demonstrations of ritual torture and murder of the slaves in his possession.
Political Positions
With the developing changes to her belief system, Kernher's politics fall somewhere between the Theocrat and Neo-Reclaimer blocs, aligning loosely with Ardishapur and Kor-Azor ideals. Even with her general disillusionment with Amarrian leadership, Kernher maintains fealty towards the Ardishapur Family and she has backed the Family in its efforts for the Imperial Throne. She supported Idonis Ardishapur after the death of Emperor Heideran VII and Yonis Ardishapur after the death of Empress Jamyl I. Following Yonis Ardishapur's various social welfare programs in Ardishapur and Ammatar territories, Kernher seemed to have developed a great affection towards the Heir that went beyond that of regular political support. Kernher had her right hand replaced with a silver cybernetic in memory of Yonis after he committed Shathol'Syn.
Kernher's views of the Ardishapur Family, Yonis, and especially Idonis has soured with her changing beliefs. Yonis declaring the Privy Council's support of Jamyl, and his standing beside the empress when she brought Khanid back into the Empire, marked him as either complicit in sin or a liar, itself a sin. Idonis, meanwhile, was the Butcher of the Starkmanir, and Kernher is no longer able to rationalize that action by blaming the victims in light of her experiences with Nauplius and other incidents of slave massacres. Kernher wants to believe in the power of Ardishapur faith, but she now understands that its hands are as bloody as every other house.
In line with Ardishapurian politics, Kernher believed in strict adherence to Scripture on daily life and policy, in opposition to the secular governments of the other empires and the Khanid Kingdom. She has expressed the belief that the separation of church and state inevitably leads to corrupt governing. Kernher also supported expanding the role of the Theology Council to include cases normally heard by the Civic Court, an opinion that increased since she became aware of the Civic Court's widespread sale of slaves to capsuleers through CONCORD's Secure Commerce Commission. Kernher maintains these beliefs, though she puts less trust in modern Scripture and the Theology Council, believing both to have been corrupted.
Having grown up under slavery, Kernher's strongest opinions are in regards to the treatment of indentured servants in the Empire and abroad. She believes that as an institution slavery can only work when it is built on a spiritual foundation that allows for the recognition of the base dignity of human beings as creatures of God. Kernher considers any slave enterprise that operates solely on economic or exploitative principles to be greatly immoral, such as foreign slave rings, Sansha's Nation, Blood Raiders, and the Angel Cartel. Kernher now includes most Amarrian holdings in this category as well, believing most Holders to be immoral lip-servers, an opinion that puts her at odds with mainstream Imperial viewpoints. Kernher is especially opposed to breeding farms, the Human Endurance Program, and any form of slave sacrifice. Though believing in the basic dignity of slaves, and now in opposition to slavery as an institution, Kernher still favors strict punishment, which she considers necessary for promoting good behavior. Kernher has been vocal about her disapproval of both transcranial microcontrollers and vitoc, which she believes deny the fundamental spiritual component of Amarrian slavery. The support of TCMCs by the Tash-Murkon Family and the Khanid Kingdom has contributed to Kernher's disapproval towards both of those houses.
On foreign relations Kernher has alternated between advocating a renewed war of conquest and sustaining the Pax Amarria of Heideran VII. While Kernher considers it a religious imperative to bring the other empires into the Amarrian fold, and she believes strongly in the unifying nature of the Reclaiming, her participation in the Empyrean War and her disenfranchisement with Amarrian leadership and slavery has eroded most of her support for violent conquest. Kernher today is a Neo-Reclaimer, favoring advancing Amarrian interests and winning converts through diplomacy and proving the positive qualities of the Amarr religion.
Kernher's opinion of CONCORD is equally mixed. Though Kernher has derided CONCORD's restrictions on the autonomy of member states, and considers the organization itself corrupt and immoral due to its refusal to use its power to fight injustice, she approves of the need for a medium for intergalactic cooperation and expresses desire for Amarr to honor its obligations in order to maintain a reputation for reliability in clusterwide politics.
Kernher previously favored the existing hierarchical collectivism of the Empire, but her support of it has relaxed in recent years due to perceiving the system as corrupted. She had expressed opposition to most bottom-up civil disobedience or other forms of social unrest, but she now takes a political activist role herself.
Kernher has also on occasion made disparaging remarks against the Khanid Kingdom due to the events surrounding King Khanid II's refusal to commit Shathol'Syn, the subsequent violent secession of his territory from the greater Amarr Empire, and the implied meaning of the Kingdom's symbol, which she considers a grave blasphemy. The pardoning of King Khanid represented a serious blow to Kernher's faith in the Empire, as it showed that even the most serious crimes will be forgiven if an individual is powerful enough, regardless of the demands of faith. This decision lead to Kernher publicly disparaging Jamyl I, both for her choice to bring the Kingdom back into the Empire and for her betraying Shathol'Syn and cloning herself. Kernher's antagonism against the Kingdom has only increased following her difficulties with Khanid Holder Alar Chakaid.
Kernher is also opposed to the Tash-Murkon Family for its focus on materialism over the faith, as well as the Sarum and Kador families, which Kernher believes place too much importance on the pursuit of territory and power. Kernher was once opposed to the Kor-Azor Family as well, due to the actions of former Royal Heir Aritcio Kor-Azor, who she never forgave. With Aritcio's death, Kernher has become much more positive about the Kor-Azor Family.
Though opposed to cloning and having membership in baseliner anti-cloning organizations, Kernher is an advocate of transhumanism and immortalism. She has professed support instead for traditional Amarrian cybernetics research, which she believes is threatened by society's increasing reliance on cloning technology. Kernher also approves of genetic modification as a means of expanding human potential, another area where she splits from mainstream Amarrian belief.
Awards and Decorations
| Amarr Empire national honours | |
|
Righteous Cross |
| Other honours | |
| Ishuk-Raata Enforcement Directive | |
|
Tsuruma Medallion |
| Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaque | |
|
Imperator Malleos |
|
Medallion of the Angelis Vindicta |
Former Awards and Decorations
The following decorations were revoked from Kernher after her involvement in a terrorist strike on Lord Alar Chakaid of the Khanid Kingdom.
| Former honours | |
| Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris | |
|
Legion of Merit |
|
Meritorious Service Medal I |
|
Servant of the Empire Service Medal |
|
Angel of Vengeance |
|
Admiral's Prize |
|
24th Imperial Crusade Campaign Medal |
