Dr. Vanth

Academy Major:  Biology and Xenobiology

Academy Minor:  Genetics

Specialist Skills:  Superior senses. Telepathy, Empathy, Feral form.

Caninoids have three genders; female, hermaphrodite (or fe/male), and male. However, usually only two are needed to reproduce. It is assumed that a fe/male Caninoid can not reproduce alone, and of hirself. A Caninoid who contributes the egg(s), conceives, and carries a litter, is usually considered the mother, irregardless of gender.

A pregnant Caninoid’s body reverts to their quadruped (sometimes called their feral form) form sometime during the middle of their pregnancy, once the fetus(es) are developed enough to withstand the change, and to allow them to continue to develop. The gestating fetuses will develop in a similar fashion and at a similar pace that their wild counterparts do. It lasts however, slightly longer in order to allow the brain to develop more.

Caninoids are born very much in the same condition as their wild counterparts, blind, deaf, and helpless. Their size and appearance is nearly indistinguishable from wolves as well. Both parents will contribute to the care of the new litter, and the mother will remain in the feral form until the newborns are old enough to begin to explore on their own.

At a certain point after their primary care is seen to, the pups will often be adopted out to other families, separated from their siblings in order to better learn how to socialize outside their own family. Usually no more than two of the pups will be adopted together. (Pups which develop in the same embryonic sack are considered twins, and it is considered bad luck to separate twins. Twins among Caninoids are common, but triplets or more, and exceedingly rare.)

A young Caninoid will grow, develop, and be raised in their new home much like one might expect a domestic canine puppy to be. They will usually be fed, well cared for, sheltered, and sent to school. They will spend upwards of twelve years with their adoptive family, until such time as they have their ‘first change’.

Once they reach approximately 18 solar months of age, a Caninoid is considered a ‘feral adult’. They have reached the pinnacle of their feral development, and are physically able to begin a family of their own. However, similar to adolescents on many other planets, it isn’t common. While not frowned upon for these “teens” to do so, there is still a “wild” population among many of the species on Barnum & Bailey. Also the resulting young will never develop to have their first change, and they will have about half the expected lifespan of a typical Caninoid.

A first change is a milestone for a Caninoid and can be best described as a sort of ‘second puberty’. It usually happens at about twelve solar years, but can be as early as ten or as late as fifteen. A Caninoid starts to develop into a full adult. They are reunited with their birth family with much pomp and celebration. They enjoy a time of a sort of second childhood, and get reacquainted with their family, and continue to learn how to cooperate and interact with the other intelligent species on Barnum Prime. Soon after they will enter what most other species in the Federation consider primary school.

Doctor Vanth grew up in much this fashion. After graduating from a form of high school s/he took a job at an orphanage for two years taking care of ‘feral adults and young who are without homes for various reasons. It was during this time, which s/he developed an interest in the veterinary sciences and a heart for healing and caring for others.

After two years, s/he felt s/he had a good grasp on what it was like to live in the “real world”, so s/he decided to enter secondary schooling with hir parents’ enthusiasm and support. S/he signed up and was easily accepted to a public school, entering their veterinary technician program. It was supposed to be a two year program, but s/he ended up taking three – s/he couldn’t fully abandon the orphans after-all.

After graduation, Vanth, was rehired by the orphanage as a full-fledged Vet. Tech. S/he worked there for a while longer, but after a while s/he began to feel the call to education again, and soon entered graduate school with an eye to become a full fledged veterinarian.

Graduate school was a little harder than s/he thought, and half-way through s/he was forced to resign hir position at the orphanage, one of the hardest things s/he’d ever do up until that point. In addition, in order to complete on time, hir parents also had to hire a tutor, and s/he enrolled in night classes.

Moving back home again wasn’t as hard as leaving the little ones, but it wasn’t easy. S/he found it hard to adjust to hir parent’s rules again, especially after living on hir own for so long. S/he managed, and actually found the lack of responsibilities for food and shelter a little refreshing, and s/he even found that s/he was able to study better and more effectively in hir old den-room and in familiar surroundings.

It took a while, and there were a few bumps, scrapes, and bruises along the way, but with a lot of grace and mercy from hir deity and hir community – not to mention pray and support from hir family – s/he managed to graduate from veterinary school with honors, and a full D.V.M. Though a year or two “late”.

Learning from hir experiences in the previous years – good and bad – Vanth, now Doctor Vanth, came out of it a changed being, and with a whole new outlook on life. S/he was quickly recruited by the planetary space agency to care for and manage the health of its employees and explorers. Over time, Doctor Vanth was able to progress through the ranks of the agency. Soon s/he found hirself involved with the team to develop faster-than-light technology.

Hir contributions and care of the pilots earned hir the right to witness the first successful attempt to break the light barrier. Soon s/he was on the developmental team to assemble and create a medical department for a new space exploration organization and program. Soon after that s/he was assigned as the chief medical officer of the first truly deep-space exploration vessel, and first contact with the United Federation of Planets officially successfully established.

Dr. Farkas Vanth must have really impressed someone, for not long after that, someone in Starfleet sponsored hir, and invited hir to apply to Starfleet Academy. It took a few tries, maybe a few “favors” – and someone might have had to pull a few strings – but Vanth was finally accepted. Not long after, s/he graduated on time from the academy branch on Betazed and with a new M.D.

Other Information:  A bit on PRONOUNS:  Vanth has requested and been granted the requirement of the use of special pronouns in recognition of hir unique gender. Those are as follows:

1. “S/he” instead of “she” or “he”
2. “Hir” in place of “her”, “him”, and the possessives, “hers”, and “his”
3. “Hirself” where appropriate, and finally,
4. “Shir”, though s/he admits hirself, s/he is lax on this, and “sir” will work in a pinch.

A bit on Barnum Prime:  The binary star of which the system is named, is called collectively, The Wringley Brothers, and the inhabited planet in the system is called Barnum Prime, its singular moon is Bailey. This, combined with the large variety of intelligent life in the system, lead to the nickname by outsiders as; “The Circus Star system”.

The Wringley Bros. and Barnum and Bailey are just outside of the Lan`tuan sector – a sector of space where most of the intelligent species are quadrupeds. Thanks to a unique combination of radiation coming from the sector and the binary star, nearly all mammalian life on Barnum and avian life on Bailey developed into a form of bipedal intelligence.

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

Barnum Prime, General Matriculation: Caninoids with the morph gene are born in their feral form. They grow and mature the same rate as the Canis lupus arctos . They are adopted individually to non-Caninoid families soon after taking solid food. They grow up and learn to socialize and appreciate diversity under this “apprentice family” until they reach a form of second puberty which is marked with a “first-change” into a bipedal form, when they return to their birth family, and enter primary school.

Barnum Prime, Secondary Schooling and Beyond: Canis Academy, Medical Arts Research, 12 years

Barnum Prime, FTL Program: Chief Medical Officer and Xenobiologist, 57 year