Barandigi character sketch

Barandigi is a character from my Noantri world. She is a young (probably middle to late 20s) woman who is endowed with nouergic powers (see my Noantri weblog for definition and more story). She was discovered among a tribal society which the Beka construction company was removing from the land to make room for a large project. She was purchased from the tribe and brought to Beka headquarters where she was trained to do construction using her nouergic powers. She was given minimal education (not taught to read or write) and in any nouergic work was always under the control of an operator. She was kept placid and unresisting by drugs which she took voluntarily, a common habit in that area of Noantri world.

Even with her nouergic abilities, Barandigi was still classified as a "class 3 fem," that is, the lowest grade of female. In her area of Noantriworld, women are judged exclusively by their physical appearance, judged through a series of beauty contests that every female is required to undergo from earliest childhood. (Males are not tested or classified in this way, but they must go through other test procedures to determine their status and fate in life.)

The prettiest and best-shaped are class 1 fems, and live privileged lives, often partnering men of great power. Those who are good-looking, but not glamorous, are class 2, and are used in the workforce. Class 3 fems are those who fail all the beauty contests and will never fit the standards. They are dressed in shapeless jumpsuits and are employed at menial or dangerous jobs. All women, no matter what their class, become class 3 at their fiftieth birthday, though older class 1s and 2s may remain employed in social service jobs.

Barandigi worked on the demolition of Enlil's "haunted" house (chronicled in my Noantri blog) and from that glimpse of another way of life she became restless and resistant to her life at Beka. She found a mentor in an elder male nouergist, one of her trainers, named Ennio Liatris, who was one of the highest ranked nouergists in the country. When the earthquake happened at Eridu, Ennio took it upon himself to go help the stricken city, and he kidnapped Barandigi to help him in the work. Barandigi saved lives at Eridu. Unfortunately, Ennio Liatris was killed in an accident during the earthquake relief effort, leaving Barandigi without a protector or a controller.

There is more to this story at my Noantri world blog, so please stay tuned.

Barandigi's character portrait is Photoshop, 7" x 10".