Orilly Malar

Orilly Malar
Full name:	Orilly Malar
Species:	Irriol
Gender:	Female
Affiliation:	Federation Starfleet
Family
Sibling(s):	Unnamed younger sister
Marital Status:	Single
Career
Previous Assignment:	Starfleet Academy, USS Titan
Assignment:	Leave of absence
Rank:	Cadet
Insignia:

Orilly Malar was a female Irriol from the planet Lru-Irr. By the late 2370s, Malar had entered Starfleet Academy and majored in exobiology and performed her required academy field studies on the USS Titan under Captain William T. Riker in 2379 and 2380.

The Irriol are an empathic species that is very much in contact with the needs of their planet and all of the animal species that inhabit it (though some Irriol believe the gestalt extends to plants and microbes as well). The Irriol refer to this subliminal awareness as the Gestalt. An Irriol would readily give his or her own life if it benefitted the other life on Lru-Irr.

One day, Orilly and her younger sister fell into a ravine. Orilly sprained one of her trunks, while her sister broke a leg and several ribs. A starving and pregnant voliro, a local predator, approached them. Orilly and her sister could sense the need of the voliro, as well as the need of the local ecology for the voliro to survive.

Orilly's sister was willing to give her life to nourish the Gestalt, the voliro and her litter, but Orilly was unwilling to sacrifice her sister and threw rocks at the voliro until it fled. For this crime against the Gestalt, Orilly was banished from Lru-Irr.

Orilly entered Starfleet Academy with the hope that her service in the galaxy at large would help to redeem her in the eyes of her people.

While performing her field studies aboard the Titan, Orilly came under the influence of the mental abilities of the Star-jellies of the Gum Nebula. While under the jellies' influence, Orilly assisted with the release of classified technology that the jellies used against the Pa'haquel, a race of hunters who pursued the jellies and used their corpses as starships.

Orilly's feelings of guilt intensified after her unwilling role in the death of so many Pa'haquel, but nevertheless agreed to help Diplomatic Officer Deanna Troi in her effort to forge an understanding between the hunters and the hunted, an effort that was largely successful.

Captain Riker approved Orilly's request for an extended leave of absence from Starfleet so that she could continue to help the Star-jellies and the Pa'haquel forge an new balance, which she felt was similar to her world's Gestalt. (TTN novel: Orion's Hounds)

Connections

Special thanks to Orion's Hounds author Christopher L. Bennett for permission to use his drawing of Orilly. His website has complete annotations for Orion's Hounds and other works.