Edram Cale

Dr. Edram Cale was a Bajoran xenoarchaeologist living in the late 24th century. (STRPG, Leto Colony)

History

Born in Hendrikspool Province on Bajor in 2354, Edram Cale spent the first fifteen years of his life suffering under the Cardassian Occupation. He saw his father worked to death in the labor camps by the time he was seven, and then watched his mother waste away from a treatable disease because the Cardassians withheld medication and the Resistance was spread far too thin to help everyone. On his own from the age of nine, he learned to fend for himself, and fend off the predators bred by that horrible environment. Eventually, he was taken in by a village elder, who told him stories of Old Bajor and the worlds beyond the night sky.

By the time of the Cardassian withdrawal, he was fifteen, and already very much a man, full of passion and curiosity, and a longing for knowledge, things that had been stifled during his boyhood. When the Federation came to Bajor, the elder arranged for Cale to be taken off-world with a group of refugees, and tutored on Vulcan and Rigel V. He was soon accepted into the University of Alpha Centauri and studied history and a general course in the sciences. That, coupled with the stories he'd learned on Bajor, fueled interest in archaeology. He majored in that subject his last two years at the university, taking minors in geology and anthropology. He wished to return to Bajor to help in the many archaeological projects that had sprung up in the years since the Cardassians left, but by the time he'd finished his studies, the Dominion War was underway and Bajor was cut off. Remaining on Alpha Centauri for a while, he took courses in field medicine, and then joined a Federation relief organization, where he served until the end of the war. After the war, he returned to his home, and started graduate studies in archaeology at the University of Bajor.

Upon obtaining his doctorate, Cale was asked to join the Federation's reconstruction and renewal projects on Cardassia. Though it was the last place he ever thought he would go, now-Doctor Edram took the opportunity, and spent four years on Cardassia Prime, helping with the relief efforts, working in refugee camps, and also examining the ruins of the pre-Cardassian Hebetian civilization as part of a joint expedition between the Bajorans and Cardassians.

By 2384, the reconstruction was proceeding very well, and many of his projects reached their natural conclusion, so Cale left what remained in the hands of his successors, and joined an anthropological team on Mintaka IV, studying and working with the proto-Vulcan society there. The following year, he toured several major sites across the quadrant, including Camus II, Tagus III and the Promellian homeworld, and attended a scientific and religious symposium on Boreth. There, he was approached by a colleague from the Daystrom Institute, and joined a geological survey team bound for a new colony on a planet called Altidra, not far from the Romulan border.

Cale remained there for two years, surprised to discover the ruins of an ancient civilization on a world that to all appearances had never been inhabited. However, his work ended before he could truly dig into the mysteries unfolding before him. In the wake of the Romulan supernova, most of the civilian scientists were sent packing when Starfleet fully took over the operation in the name of increased security in a turbulent region.

Frustrated at being forced to give up his work, Cale turned down a teaching position with the Daystrom Institute. With no clear goal, no promising leads, he ended up drifting around the quadrant for almost a year. While on Algol II, he met an old acquaintance named Jay Allan, an amateur archaeologist, antique dealer and former Starfleet officer. Allan had become part of a loose organization of private citizens who aimed to help the Romulan and Reman survivors in unorthodox ways while Federation relief efforts and diplomacy were failing. Intrigued, Cale agreed to join the group, and soon found himself as part of an "underground mag-lev" of cargo crews, independent space stations and good-hearted smugglers, running refugees out of Romulan space, and helping to set them up with new lives elsewhere.

Allan's reasons for seeking out Cale quickly became apparent, as the black market was soon flooded with archaeological treasures and artifacts plundered from worlds in Romulan space, the Neutral Zone and along the border. Though at first reluctant to risk his professional integrity, Cale put his ethical considerations aside for the greater good, and went along with Allan's plan to recover artifacts from unscrupulous profiteers and fence them to legitimate institutions and collectors where they would be held in trust for the Romulan people. The proceeds generated by these under-the-table dealings would then be used to fund the "underground mag-lev," purchase medical supplies and food for the survivors, and aid in their resettlement and rebuilding their lives.

For the next several years, Cale lived a double life, working openly as an archaeologist when he could, all the while supporting the "cabal of light" in helping those displaced and devastated by the Hobus disaster. He made friends with many of the Romulans and Remans he helped, as well as many of the people with whom he worked, both legitimate and "unsavory" types, including pilot Brian Mallory.

As the flow of refugees eased, and the political climate became more stable within the Empire by the late 2390s, the "cabal" naturally became less active. On one of his last major "smuggling" missions in 2398, Cale found a group of Reman survivors living in a network of ruins on Xanitla. He also met Kerav, a young Romulan boy; now thirteen years old, the Remans had taken him in when his parents died almost five years earlier, as he had no other surviving family. The planet the Remans were relocating to was suitable for them, but would provide an extremely inhospitable environment for the boy. While working an excavation in order to provide cover for the extraction, Cale and Kerav became close. When the Remans departed, Edram took the boy in himself rather than turn him over to the Federation Displaced Persons Agency, or find a foster family among other Romulan refugees who would be strangers to the boy.

After this, Cale returned to Bajor for a while, Kerav in tow. He taught several classes at the university, but found adjusting back to a "normal" life to be rather difficult, for both himself and his young charge. In 2399, they left Bajor and headed back towards the Beta Quadrant, stopping at archaeological sites along the way while Cale renewed his ties with the Daystrom Institute, reconnected with old friends, and followed promising leads. Eventually, Cale and Kerav's journey led them toward the Typhon Expanse, Azandria and the Leto Colony, somewhere that would provide a home, a fresh start, new opportunities and new mysteries. (Leto Colony)

Appearance

Fairly average in most ways, Cale is not the kind of man most people passing by would give a second glance. On the thin side, almost lanky, he presents a rather unimposing figure. His light, mousy brown hair frames a kind, but rather hawkish face, with green eyes, his only unusual feature apart from the nose ridges common to all Bajorans. He tends to walk quickly, head down and shoulders almost always hunched, from so often stooping in low caverns and excavation sites. His clothes are functional, though often dusty and rarely stylish. When on-site, he frequently wears a scarf that he will pull up to cover his mouth, avoid the dust and mold he often encounters in his work, and sometimes use spectacles for reading and fine detail work.

Personality

Intensely curious and quite intelligent, but unassuming rather than egotistical, Cale is a classic introvert, more comfortable on his own or one-on-one than in large groups, where he would rather observe than actively participate, if given a choice. That's not to say he doesn't work well in a team, towards a singular goal, but his preference would be to engage in solitary research. That being said, he is very compassionate, and fiercely loyal.

Cale's time living under the Cardassian Occupation had a profound impact during his formative years. Spending the first third of his life in labor camps, he did not have many outlets for his innate curiosity, but it was nurtured by the stories of his village elders, and the few scraps of old texts and weathered artifacts he found amid the debris. Most Bajorans were hardened and embittered by their experiences during the Occupation, and though it hardened him in ways, the horrors Cale saw fueled a strong sense of justice and compassion. He cannot stand by and watch people suffer, if it is within his power to help.

Though he still holds to some of the tenants of the Bajoran faith, Cale views himself as a "seeker," someone who believes both in science and things beyond science, a view which sometimes puts him at odds with both the more orthodox of his people and the hyper-rationalists within the Federation.

Strengths & Flaws

Edram is highly intelligent, curious, intuitive, compassionate, with good memory and a gift for languages. He's an excellent problem-solver, even when seemingly disinterested.

Often impulsive, and easily distracted from routine activities, Cale can be extremely oblivious when engaged in a project. His natural social awkwardness has led to a dose of naivete which never really left him, and coupled with his upbringing during the Cardassian Occupation, this means he can be both too trusting and yet reluctant to open himself to others. He also has compromised respiratory and immune systems from childhood illness and malnutrition, exacerbated by a career that has him spend too much time in mouldering ruins.

Ambitions

Professionally, Cale is driven by the pursuit of discoveries about the past, of knowledge gained and shared. He doesn't look to make a name for himself, and he's not a treasure hunter. He does what he does because he finds it fascinating, and because exploring the past touches some wistful, melancholy part of his psyche that he finds fulfilling.

On a personal level, his ambitions for himself are even simpler: a glass of spring wine on a cool evening with a warm fire, a sea breeze and a good book. Romance is seldom on his mind, and the thought of a family of his own was always supremely alien to him.

Hobbies & Interests

Many of Cale's personal interests dovetail with his professional life. While not a treasure hunter, he is nonetheless something of a collector. Having spent a quarter of a century as an archaeologist, he has accumulated numerous artifacts, souvenirs and trinkets for his personal collection, some of which travel with him to each new home, while more remain in storage on Bajor or on loan to various museums and collections across the quadrant.

He enjoys literature and art from across the galaxy, and has an appreciation for music, especially the flute and similar instruments. Unlike many people, he doesn't see the point in holonovels, preferring to indulge his imagination in the written word or through the oral tradition. Oddly enough, despite his shy and timid nature, Cale was pulled into the world of the theatre while attending university on Alpha Centauri, and he enjoys attending plays, and acting in them on rare occasion. He's also something of an amateur magician or illusionist; he began learning sleight-of-hand tricks during the Occupation, and kept up with the hobby ever since.

Cale frequently takes long walks, especially when pondering a puzzle. For more strenuous activity, he enjoys hiking, mountain climbing and sailing, and has participated in several marathons, which he found quite taxing but very rewarding.