Name: Sir Nero Barsad
Age: 52
Gender/Race: Male/Human
Role: Xenobiologist/Pathologist

Bio: Born the youngest son of a middling farmer among many other thousands in Atrea, Barsad was saved from a certain future of anonymity, poverty, and worst of all, boredom, by an incurable curiosity matched only by the needle-like focus of his intellect. A polymathic autodidact, Barsad taught himself first to read, and then to read quickly. With his voracious appetite for the printed word and all the knowledge they represented, he obtained a working understanding of a variety of academic disciplines before turning his concentration onto medicine. A minor noble sponsored Barsad's enrollment into the King's College of Surgeons in Atrea's capital, where a few years' worth of accelerated education gained him a place among the Royal Family's cadre of personal physicians, a not unimpressive salary, and the title of baronet.

While a lifestyle that those of his born station could only dream of afforded him every luxury, Barsad despised indolence, fearing that the security of his position would encourage complacency and contentment and, ultimately, would dull the edges of his intellect. He briefly considered joining the Order of Progress, assured that a meteoric climb through the ranks would allow him access to troves of secret information and hidden data enough to keep even his mind busy for a lifetime. But he possessed no taste for their bureaucracy and believed that pure knowledge could be accessed only through an independent will and a pristine curiosity for the unknown, unfettered by the banal ambitions of superiors and managers. Thus he resigned from his post and used his considerable savings to fund an indefinite expedition around the world, a quest for understanding, for both internal and external discovery.

It was during the second decade of his pilgrimage, after spending much time with the various non-human races that inhabited this world with him, that his focus turned itself onto the fields of anatomy and genetics. He retrained himself as a pathologist, specializing in non-human anatomy, determined to find the origins of life hidden within their unfamiliar genetic structures, and quickly made a name for himself as one of the world's foremost independent authorities on xenobiology.

Now, intrigued by rumors of the odd creatures creeping out of the Shatterzone, Sir Nero made the decision to sign on with the crew of the Tychon, eyes aglow with all the possibilities to be unearthed in that ancient land.

All those artifacts.

All that knowledge.

And all that strange and alien life to cut open and peer into.

Personality: Sir Nero is mercurial at the best of times. He is hyperactive, irritable, and easily bored. He seldom gets along with others, not because of any cruelty or malice in his heart, but because he is convinced that he simply thinks too fast for most people to command his attention for more than a few moments. He believes humans are by-and-large incapable of providing him with any sort of interest, and identifies more, and interacts better with, non-human species. He nurtures a particular kinship for the Setra, those inscrutable insectoids whose natural intelligence and curiosity near rival his own.

He thinks himself a hunter of mysteries, a detective of the undetectable, an investigator of the unknown, a bearer of the light of knowledge and science in dark places, and, though he'd sooner draw a scalpel across your throat than admit it, an amateur poet.

Equipment: Portable field laboratory, basic medical gear, anatomy texts and journals, a few vials of fungal spores that, when prepared and ingested properly, tend to induce prolonged periods of, uh, spiritual commune. Oh, and scalpels. Lots and lots of scalpels.

Skills: Sir Nero's travels and natural aptitude for learning have bequeathed him with a host of skills and talents. Along with his expert knowledge in his chosen fields of study, he is able, given a modicum of interest and time, to teach himself the basics of near any discipline. Though focused primarily on biology, he enjoys a working journeyman's knowledge of fields ranging from mathematics to music to theology. And though his left-brain analytics and right-brain intuitiveness are far superior to his left hook and right cross, he has also trained himself a bit in the art of pugilism, and can acquit himself reasonably well in a fight. At least, much better than one would expect of a white-haired academic of late-middle years.

Appearance: Though he gives no thought to class or social graces, Barsad has a weakness for finely tailored clothing, and is rarely seen without some variation of an immaculate white suit and hat. He keeps himself in remarkable physical shape for his advanced age, and his long travels have given him deeply tanned skin and sun-bleached white hair.