Stats
- 31 Mission Posts
- 2 Personal Logs
Last Post
13 Apr 2016 @ 7:32pm
Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl
Name Pieter Bern Van Zyl Ph.D.
Position Botanist
Rank Petty Officer 1st Class
Character Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 35 | |
| Date of Birth | January 3rd 2355 | |
| Place of Birth | South Africa, Earth |
Character Type
Starfleet ID
| Serial Number | ME-120-3146 | |
| Security Clearance | Level 2 | |
| Duty Watch | Alpha |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 1.84 m | |
| Weight | 85 kg | |
| Hair Color | Brown | |
| Eye Color | Blue | |
| Physical Description | Tall and muscular, science isn’t the first field anyone with prejudice would place Pieter in. With a large build and a militaristic air around him, Pieter often looks much bigger than he actually is. He keeps his hair short but prefers to keep a trimmed beard. | |
| Body Art | None =^= PNPC Owned by Oren Idris =^= |
|
| Portrait |    |
Family
| Spouse | None | |
| Children | None | |
| Father | Henrik Van Zyl (62 years old, retired veterinarian) | |
| Mother | Jess Van Zyl (deceased) | |
| Brother(s) | Abrahem Sawaya (31 years old, oceanographer working in Argentina, South America) |
|
| Sister(s) | Jewel Van Zyl (29 years old, architect on Betazed) | |
| Other Family | Ren Grax - brother-in-law (30 years old, Maths professor on Betazed) Akemi Sawaya - sister-in-law (26 years old, professional athlete) Milica Grax - niece (6 years old) Sanjin Grax - nephew (8 years old) Katsu Sawaya - nephew (10 years old) Jess Sawaya - niece (2 years old) |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Quiet and reserved, Pieter is a difficult man to get to know, especially for people with a different outlook on life. The fact that he’s devoted his career to the research and knowledge of a lifeform that doesn’t talk back and, instead, just sits there speaks volumes about his social skills. Pieter is honest and blunt to the core, seeing omissions or pleasantries as a giant waste of time and resources. He prefers working alone in the Arboretum, away from everyone else. Pieter is allergic to many things, hence his pickiness about everything. |
|
| Strengths | + Jack-of-all-trades + Strong-willed and dutiful + Very responsible + Good at creating and enforcing order + Calm and practical + Honest and direct |
|
| Weaknesses | - Stubborn - Insensitive - Judgmental - Always by the book - Unreasonably blames himself |
|
| Ambitions | To serve the Federation to the best of his ability | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Martial arts, reading, camping, wildlife watching, horticulture, hiking | |
| Vernacular | Pieter’s VOICE speaks in a slightly monotone male voice that creates an emotional barrier between himself and other people. To counteract this, Pieter tries his best to be as expressive as possible with his body language. Despite the fact that he has seen a speech therapist once a week since he was 17 and can talk well enough to be understood, Pieter prefers not to as he’s very insecure about his voice. |
|
| Orientation | Heterosexual | |
| Language(s) Spoken | Federation standard, some Afrikaans and Tswana, and several sign languages |
| Personal History | Pieter was born as the first child of Jess and Henrik Van Zyl. Henrik and Jess worked as veterinarian and keeper, respectively, in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the Southern region of Africa. From a very young age, Pieter was regarded as an odd child. He didn’t like playing with other children much and preferred to be carried by his parents, watching them go about their daily business. At the age of three, Pieter’s family noticed his continued lack of response to their calls. After a visit to the local hospital, it was revealed that Pieter suffered from a rare genetic form of nerve degeneration, affecting both of cochlear nerves. At the time, all the doctors could do was slow down the degeneration, considering there was no cure. His parent were against using any type of hearing aid for Pieter, not wanting to put the boy through countless surgeries as he grew. They decided to wait until he was older, so they let his hearing loss progress naturally and simply tried their best to prepare Pieter. For the next couple of years, Pieter’s mother Jess took Pieter with her everywhere, becoming obsessed with teaching him to speak and sign to the best of his ability. This distanced both himself and his mother from the rest of their small family. Pieter became profoundly deaf at six years old. By then, the relationship between his parents was strained and they separated. Once again, his mother got custody of Pieter and he only saw his father on weekends. At this time in his life, Pieter was homeschooled by his mother and a small army of tutors. He was a bookish boy so he took to new information relatively easily. When Pieter was nine years old, Jess became ill and it was clear that she’d been suffering from the same illness as her son, only in the centers of her brainstem. She passed away when Pieter was ten years old and he went to live with his father. Henrik had a rough time raising his son, but tried his best. His tense relationship with Pieter caused the boy to look for ways out and ran away several times only to be brought back by authorities. This was how Pieter decided he wanted to join Starfleet. His father, surprisingly, supported his wishes. Whether it was out of love or simply to get rid of him, Pieter never asked. Mostly, because he was afraid of the answer. When Pieter turned 17, his father got him his first VOICE, a device that would enable him to smoothly and easily communicate with the outside world for the first time. With this device, Pieter enlisted in Starfleet after a year of getting accustomed to it. |
|
| Starfleet History | In the Enlisted Corps, Pieter was hardworking, wishing to prove himself equal to his fellow cadets, despite his disability. There was truly no need as the only disability he had was that some of his fellow cadets thought of him as a liability in case of being exposed to any kind of pulse that would turn his VOICE off. Nevertheless, Pieter strived for perfection and graduated in 2372. Pieter’s first position was in Engineering. Although he thrived in a position that required skill and knowledge of basic facts, he didn’t find himself there. A man of nature above all else, Pieter signed up for long distance courses in Biology, ultimately wanting to pursue his first love – botany. The love of the natural world and plants was passed onto him by his mother during his childhood and the many hours of mindless work in Engineering gave him plenty of time to mull over his choices. During the war, Pieter continued pursuing his degree in Botany while working in the Engineering Corps, now on the USS Triumph as a Damage Control specialist, a job he would later look back on as being some of the most rewarding days of his life. After the war was finished, Pieter transferred back to Earth, where he worked in a Botany research lab for Starfleet Academy. He finally retired as an engineer and switched over to the Science Corps and, although the change in position was welcome, working closely with so many people wasn’t. For the next few years, Pieter pursued mostly solitary projects in pursuit of a Master’s in Botany, which he received in 2380, after which he transferred once again to a ship, the USS Belgrade. A man dedicated to his position, Pieter stayed on the Belgrade for the following ten years, perfecting his skills and knowledge. Unfortunately, after this time, he was transferred to another Nova Class, the USS Galileo. |
|
| Medical History | Pieter is profoundly deaf and, as such, without the help of a medical device, his communication with the outside world is limited. Pieter has made excellent use of his VOICE (Visual/Oral Interpreting Computer) device, adding several new subroutines to attune it perfectly to his body’s movement. The following is an excerpt from the OF wiki: VOICE uses microscopic nanite sensors implanted in various parts of the user's body, such as the fingertips, palms, cheeks, forehead, and eyebrows, in order to record physical gestures and movements. These sensors relay data to a device worn on the wrist, which uses the sensor signals to determine a sign being made, and translates the sign into a spoken language. The wrist device also contains a universal translator, which translates spoken language into text or a sign-language animation on a small screen on the device, making the device a two-way translator. VOICE needs a mandatory checkup in medical and communications every six months. As far as injuries go, Pieter has several healed scars and broken bones. He’s broken both his clavicles and forearms, as well as his left femur over the course of 17 years in the Fleet. Pieter suffers from many allergies, including: eggs, milk protein, saltwater fish, and most non-Terran edible flora. |
|
| Service Record | 2371 - 2372 - Starfleet Enlisted Corps 2372 - 2373 - USS Mnemosyne, Engineering officer 2373 - 2376 - USS Triumph, Damage Control Specialist 2376 - 2380 - Stafleet Academy Science Corps 2380 - 2390 - USS Belgrade, Botanist 2390 - Present - USS Galileo, Botanist |
Character Progression System
| CPS Option | DISABLED |
Back to Top