Jarik Malga Zalag

Jarik, full name Jarik Hassin Suen Malga Zalag, is a law student on Izina.

Passionate about politics and law enforcement, Jarik desires to bring more order to the often chaotic legal system of Izina. He recently obtained a degree in military law and seeks to join the legal division of Urum Zalag's armed forces. In addition to his conventional education, Jarik also went through basic combat training.

Personality
As a man who believes in protecting the rights of everyone around him, Jarik is a supportive friend and a fierce guardian. He doesn't hide his emotions beneath a superficial mask. If he dislikes someone, then he will let them know and give them a full list of grievances. If he cares for someone, then he will shower them with praise. His emotional honesty does have a weakness, however. When Jarik falls in love, he becomes flustered to the point where he has difficulty interacting with the object of his desire.

Jarik is even-tempered unless he feels that someone is acting in an unethical manner. At that point, he will often fly into a rage and take a passionate stand against his designated opponent. This behavior is something of a double-edged sword. Jarik's protests allow him to fix problems that might go deliberately ignored by people in lofty positions of power, but his tendency to ruffle feathers sometimes results in damaged relations.

Close friends have long since recognized that -- in spite of his sometimes erratic emotions -- Jarik is obsessed with patterns, logic, and order. Their favorite way to get on his nerves is to discreetly reorganize his possessions when they visit his apartment, and then time how long it takes him to notice (and compulsively fix it).

Early Life
While twins traditionally have much in common, Jarik and Kora demonstrated vastly different personalities as soon as they were born. Kora was demanding and bossy. Jarik, a gentler soul, put others ahead of himself. He was an 'anti-bully' on the playground, willing to get into physical fights with children who were tormenting smaller classmates. This forced Jarik to face off against his domineering sister on several occasions, souring their childhood relationship.

Jarik was a popular student with friends in many different social circles. He enjoyed spending time with other children, but he had a genuine love of reading -- both fiction and educational texts. He pulled ahead of most of his classmates and earned exceptional grades throughout his childhood.

As he edged closer to puberty, Jarik began to realize that his natural good looks earned the attention of pretty classmates. Like his sister, he began to invest in his appearance long before other children. He dressed in trendy clothing, at least by Izina standards, and woke up early to primp himself before going to school.

Adolescence and Education
While all Zalag are meant to study law and politics, Jarik's fascination with both subjects matured into a healthy obsession. Izina had long suffered from widespread corruption -- primarily due to the remoteness of various settlements -- and Jarik felt that he could best help society by entering the legal field. As the majority of Izina's original population had been military personnel, Jarik narrowed his focus to traditional military law.

His excellent scholastic record gave him immediate entry into Izina's jointly controlled military academy. Like all students, Jarik was required to go through basic training before starting his academic program. This provided him with elementary firearm, navigation, and survival skills.

Students focusing purely on academic programs were often ostracized by the more rough-and-tumble students, and Jarik was often cut off from many of their activities. As a result, he didn't share the same social circle as many of his relatives -- which, after having to put up with his sister's behavior for so long, was something of a relief. He was allowed to become his own man.

Jarik became something of a heartthrob as he entered maturity, but he developed single-minded infatuation for Aya, one of his cousin's companions. Afraid of being turned down, he couldn't bring himself to admit his feelings. Furthermore, Nanshe was protective of all her followers -- feeling betrayed if one of them 'settled down' into a proper relationship with an outsider. Jarik could only admire from afar.

The Breaking of the Treaty
Things were looking up for Jarik in the weeks leading up to the crisis on Izina. He had graduated near the top of his class and was in the process of selecting one of many positions offered to him by the local Zalag military. Everything came to a screeching halt after an unidentified capsule landed just north of Izina's capital city. It didn't take long for the whole planet to enter mandatory lockdown.

Jarik remained confident that the situation had a simple explanation, as it was political suicide for any established urum to enter the system unannounced.