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Archie Phoenix

Personnel Record -- Archie J. Phoenix

Starfleet Personnel Records

USS Arcadia NCC 1742-E

 

Name: Archie Phoenix

Species: Renazian (see Xeno:G1-Be-892 files)

Gender: Male

DOB: 48211.14 (25 Solar years of age)

Rank: Lieutenant (Junior Grade)

Post: Assistant Engineer

Height: 1.84 meters

Mass: 98.7 kilograms

Attr: fair skin, black hair, orange eyes only distinguishing non-human mark

 

Archie Phoenix is the fifth Renazian to enlist in Starfleet and the first to graduate the Academy. He achieved a total GPA of 3.97 with majors in Warp Physics, Starship Mechanics, and Bioengineering and minors in Nanotechnology and Biology. He served his Academy tenure without incident and received instructor commendations for behavior and creativity.

 

His instructors made particular mention of Archie's wide-eyed curiosity and inquisitiveness, traits not common to the largely detached Renazians. He seemed genuinely thrilled to be receiving the opportunity to explore the galaxy, much of his commentary about his people suggesting relief at getting away from his homeworld of Renazia.

 

Biologically, there is nothing of importance to distinguish Archie from a standard, healthy Human. Only the slight alterations noted in the Renazian medical files need to be accounted for in any examination or operation. He has never sustained a major injury.

 

50308.15 - Enrolled in Starfleet Academy

50707.28 - Graduated Starfleet Academy

50802.25 - Assigned to USS Arcadia-E

50805.07 - Promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade)

Edited by Archie Phoenix

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Starfleet Xenology Archives

G1-Be-892-2 ----- Renazian Phylactery Process

>== Alpha Entry - Level 5 Command Clearance Required ==<

 

The Renazians are one of the more recently encountered species of the Beta quadrant. Their homeworld in the Epsilon Ulysses system was explored by the USS Trinidad in 2273. The warp-capable Renazians were described by Captain Marcus Grant as 'not overly xenophobic, but desiring of seclusion.' Follow-up efforts by Starfleet's Diplomatic Corps revealed that this isolationist sentiment was not shared by all of Renazia's leaders. Exchange of information between Renazia and the Federation was maintained, but it would take several years for the guarded Renazians to reveal their remarkable secret.

 

Through methods still a total mystery to Federation scientists, the Renazians have learned to localize their individual life-signatures (see also: 'souls' ; 'spirits') and separate them from their bodies without compromising the functionality of either. The Renazians bind their life-signatures to external vessels called 'phylacteries,' where they apparently may be preserved indefinitely, and somehow a tie is maintained to the original host body. If the body ceases to function, the life-signature may be tied to a new body -- often one identical to the previous -- and the memories and personality of the Renazian are unchanged. This confers upon the Renazian a virtual immortality.

 

Despite the Renazians' Federation membership, many of the details of the phylactery process have been held secret. This is a tricky symptom of the Federation charter's subsection on Faiths and Religions. The Renazians have carefully classified the process as a personally mystical transference, allowing it to be categorized as a Type A Sacrament and, thus, not answerable to the Federation's protocols on the sharing of scientific knowledge. Many Federation scientists were skeptical of the classification and objected to the Renazians' Federation induction. They still believe that the Renazians do not attach any religious importance to the process and are simply using a constitutional loophole to justify hoarding their knowledge of life-signatures. Even the majority of Renazia's population is kept in the dark; the secrets are known only to the most prominent members of the society's leadership and the small division of 'mystics' that they have trusted to oversee the phylactery processes.

 

Many critical questions continue to be raised by Federation scientists and summarily deflected by the Renazians:

 

  • What are the properties of the life-signature? This is a question that has been asked by every Federation species since long before they explored beyond their homeworlds. The Renazians' ability to isolate and preserve the life-signature indicate advanced understanding of the question. Federation medical experts believe that such knowledge of the life-signature could produce leaps and bounds in the development of medical techniques.

  • What is the nature of the link between body and life-signature? In severing this link, the Renazians have managed to overcome life's greatest obstacle -- the deterioration of the body. There are Renazian leaders who claim to have lived for close to 1000 years, nearly as long as they have been able to perform the phylactery process. Is there a limit? Do all life-signatures last this long? How does the death of a body to which a life-signature is still bound affect the life-signature? Our own understanding (or, more appropriately, lack thereof) tells us that the life-signature either ceases, continues in a new body with old memories and personality purged, or reaches a new state or realm of existence. Does the Renazian knowledge of the link contain answers to such questions? Is their prolonging of their life-processes denying a new existence which awaits?

  • Where do the bodies to which the Renazians tie their life-signatures originate? This question brings up a number of ethical concerns. As previously indicated, these new bodies are often identical to the old, suggesting that some form of cloning is taking place on Renazia. But the Renazians remain mum, asserting that the body transference is part of the mysticism of the process.

  • What happens if the life-signature is destroyed? It is known that murders have been committed against Renazian life-signatures; this is considered the most heinous offense in Renazian society. Up until 70 years ago, the penalty for destroying a life-signature was destruction of the murderer's life-signature. Pressure from the Federation played a large factor in the reformation of this capital punishment policy. Today, life-signature murderers are permanently exiled from the Renazian territories. There have only been three recorded incidents of life-signature murder since the Federation-Renazian first contact, but the Renazians allege that their phylacteries are nearly impossible to destroy without intimate knowledge of the life-signature. There is strong speculation among Federation experts that this is the core reason that the Renazians are so guarded about their secret.

The Renazians are capable of normal reproduction, but the birth rate is closely monitored by the Renazian government to ensure that population does not get out of hand. This does not seem to be a major concern to the Renazians in any event -- limited sociological studies on Renazia have shown that without the impendence of death hanging over them, the Renazians' urge to reproduce is far below the Federation norm. The phylactery process is normally performed after birth with the consent of the parents. No one is under any obligation to undergo the process and it can easily be reversed if any Renazian desires. There are large sects of Renazia's population that refuse the process, believing it to be an immoral alteration of the natural cycle of life.

 

The phylactery secrets are widely believed to be at the crux of the Renazian-Serberite conflict. See G1-Be-892-4

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