H'daen

H’daen ch’Rihan Hiren was born to an influential family on Romulus. During his childhood, the Romulan Empire saw a great deal of conflicts with both the Klingons and the Federation, culminating with the Treaty of Algeron being signed just before H’daen’s 18th birthday. With this sudden change in the dynamic of how the Empire operated, H’daen as well as his family had to adapt to survive the times. His career path had been set for that of service in the military, as it was an avenue that his family hadn’t spread its influence into before. He was given a military education befitting the upper echelons of Romulan society at the time, and shipped off to one of countless warbirds that had been constructed to bolster a Romulan Star Navy that had be labeled as weak by some of the more expansionistic minded Senators at the time.

His dedication to his studies at the Romulan Military Academy landed him a position as an assistant to the Weapons Officer aboard his warbird, a position that almost never went to a lowly Uhlan. The contention this caused among some of the older and more jealous members of the crew created an environment that foster rather early in H’daen’s career a sense of suspicion and a drive to eliminate threats to his position. Within three years, H’daen had climbed, killed, or subverted his way to Centurion as well as the Weapons Officer of the warbird he’d started his military career on.

His actions while aboard were noteworthy enough to earn him accolades, but not quite worthy enough for a better position when he transferred to a more advanced class of warbird in his fourth year of service. This initial disappointment was masterfully rectified when his Subcommander was killed during a mission to some hostile ship that the warbird had encountered along the Klingon border. As the Weapons Officer, H’daen had been with the team, and his taking charge after the Subcommander’s death had saved the lives of the rest of the squad, a fact that could not be overlooked even if it was suspected the Subcommander had been killed by a Romulan disruptor rather than a Klingon one.

The following four years aboard the warbird saw him rise not only to Subcommander, but to the position of the warbird’s captain. This would mark the only time in his long career that he hadn’t been responsible for the death of a superior to get ahead. His Commander succumbed to a parasitic disease that managed to infect a large portion of the crew before a cure was found. This disease left lasting scars on H’daen’s body as well as his mind. From that point on, he began to grow increasingly more reserved, guarded, and suspicious, seeing traitors and plots behind every closed door of his ship.

Decades of service to the Romulan Star Navy saw him jump from one warbird after another, and his paranoia never seemed to ebb. By the time he was being considered for Admiral, the man had as much influence as any Admiral might need, but more deaths attributed to his name than any Admiral in the Star Navy currently serving. It was decided that he would be transferred to a post on Romulus that would see him slowly disappear, as he was deemed too volatile for promotion, but too valuable to be removed from service altogether. It wasn’t until the ‘Shinzon Incident’ that H’daen broke free from the prison sentence that had been his post.

With the vast majority of the Senate killed, and the coup d’etat squashed by Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew, H’daen seized upon the opportunity and laid claim to a seat on the newly formed Senate, a position that his father had held prior to his death at the hands of Shinzon. With his strong ties to some of the seedier elements within the Romulan Star Navy, as well as he family’s connections, H’daen began his work subverting aspects of government to suit his jaded and warped views. His work, while on the surface appeared to benefit the Romulan Star Empire as a whole, it was all for his own selfish purposes.

The fall of Romulus in the years to follow threw a great deal into disarray, including H’daen’s grand plans and ambitions. The Tal-Shiar created the Romulan Free State in the aftermath, a direct afront to everything that H’daen held to be true about Romulan culture and their ‘manifest destiny’ as a race. Despite having now interest in peace, H’daen joined the newly formed Romulan Republic, his status as a Senator remaining unchanged in the transition, likely owing to his connections to the Star Navy that the Republic relies heavily upon to keep their interests secure and out of the hands of the Free State.

H’daen, for his part, wages a silent war with what he considers to be the traitors of the Empire. His deeply held wish is to see all of the Romulan people returned to fold, and that the Empire expands beyond their former borders to take their place as the true masters of both the Alpha and Beta Quadrant, by any means necessary…