Meet Dr. Glidra Er Ekna, the chief medical officer on board an exploratory space vessel belonging to the galactic alliance (The group name is in the works, a couple friends and I have been making space characters together for this)
She is a member of a therapsid-like alien race called the Enkkra. Their early relatives were quadrupedal carnivores, but since then they have evolved a highly flexible spine and pelvis that allows a bipedal gate. (Many of their modern terrestrial exploration vehicles are engineered to be able to switch between upright and ‘all fours’ positions, much like the pilots themselves)
Standing at about 6’4”, she’s much smaller than the majority of her species, due to her belonging to a population that was genetically augmented to adapt well to space travel (especially low grav, low pressure environments and cosmic radiation- homegirl is smaller than the majority of her species and has very dense bones) generations ago, in the event of the Enkkra first reaching the stars.
While the Enkkra have colonized two other planets in their solar system and have been slowly increasing rates of intergalactic trade and research, their galactic presence is still relatively small. The main government is very carefully neutral or quiet on a lot of subjects and between their galactic allies, and often asks their astronauts and diplomats to learn as much as they can about other sapient species that they may interact with.
Glidra does follow some lines of observation while on board the alliance vessel, but after finishing her degree and initial medical research at one of the only intergalactic institutions in her homeplanet’s star system, she mostly uses that information to get to know others better, as she’s a bit of an awkward social butterfly. She likes meeting people and is fascinated by foreign biology and new cultures, often getting a bit carried away with her research or excitement.
