Rajiva Patel
Vashnavi Hindu | Gujarati-British-American | 34 | 1-17-1937
Dr. Patel is a main character, if not the main character of OPNERO. He is a cold, isolated, mildly neurotic and suspicious character. He becomes the most senior engineer on Amchitka very swiftly, as most of his coworkers leave to be with their families or are killed in accidents on the island.
HISTORY:
Rajiva Patel is of a family of merchants from Gujarat. His father opted to become educated as a physician, and with intentions to set his children up for success from far prior to their birth, successfully immigrated their family (including Raj's maternal grandmother, mother, and two sisters) to the UK when Raj was four. Rajiva was born with a congenital malformation (microphthalmia) that resulted in an underdeveloped right eye. It was ultimately surgically removed when he turned thirteen, but his blindness is a condition for which his father has always blamed his mother, for some reason. Rajiva resents him for this. Raj grew up in Hove, highly educated and extremely intelligent, but lacking drive. He attempted to become a surgeon via Cambridge. He opts to tell everyone (including his family) that he did not care for the school and left to study abroad at Columbia in New York, but was never actually granted acceptance to Cambridge at all, as he didn't try very hard on his application. It's no longer an issue, as his family are relatively happy with his current profession, mostly because they do not fully understand it between the classified opacity and technical complexity.
In New York he pivoted his education towards physics, to the great initial dismay of his family. Though his tenure abroad was intended to create distance from them. Rajiva has a preference for mathematics over vocational handskills and would likely have never been a very good surgeon. He excelled in this field. He received his undergraduate degree in physics, and has a doctorate in nuclear physics. He is highly educated in nuclear engineering and was contracted by the US government for the development of weaponry, this sponsorship is how he attained American citizenship. He has not attempted to extend citizenship to his family because he doesn't want to be around them. Patel is exceptionally intelligent, but his best strength seems to be his communication skills. Despite his often frigid personality, he is adept at simplifying complicated information into investable strategy. He intentionally chose to prioritize contributing to the arms race over nuclear energy, simply because he thinks bombs are cooler. He has a severe lack of empathy when it comes to the ethics of weaponry development, generally has a lack of interest in ethics. Not as a symptom of a inherent cruelty but rather because he thinks it stands in the way of progress. (which is actually pretty cruel, but not explicitly.)
in 19XX Patel returned to the UK for a few months of the summer at the behest of his family. While their intention was to drill him into finding a wife, he took the opportunity to take a few non-degree seeking courses instead. In [[Red Gorchakov]]'s summer session on foreign policy. Initially fond of his instruction, finding his lecture style challenging, he very quickly lost interest in gaining Gorchakov's favor after he cornered and propositioned him. Rajiva, immediately being confronted with what he refuses to acknowledge as an outright fear of intimacy, rejected him, and was subsequently failed in retribution. Rajiva had never, at this point in his life, failed a course he enrolled in, and was deeply humiliated. Every attempt he made to remediate his relationship with Gorchakov was blocked, and the embarrassing nature of the situation made it impossible for him to address a higher power. He thinks Gorchakov is a scumbag, pervert, racist and generally incompetent professor who betrayed him by having sexual interest in him and further broke his trust by undercutting him to protect himself.
ON SEX:
Rajiva is avoiding finding a wife because of his aforementioned revulsion towards sex. He finds the idea of sexual or romantic desire foreign and unsettling, almost animalistic, demeaning? He has rationalized his suspicious disinterest by categorizing sex as something stupid people do. Raj habitually avoids women because he seems to think they are all trying to marry him without him noticing. He is not as stubborn as expected about his attraction to men, all previous assertions about sexual and romantic desire apply. He does not find himself as interested in men as he is, or claims to be in women. Though, he does recognize some utility in being involved with men (no pressure to present a spouse to his family, not having to be the assertive party, sexual familiarity). He has slept with women casually, he has not slept with men in any capacity. His relationship with romance is fraught, as he claims doesn't often meet anyone who is both intelligent and attractive. As he is his family's eldest son, there is a lot of pressure on him to get married, and in the interest of defying his parents generally he ignores their requests and avoids their arrangements.
ON DRUGS:
Rajiva has no real opinion on drug use. He is a heavy smoker and drinks with frequency, has done socially acceptable amounts of coke. He has no interest in any other drugs, and adamantly refuses to smoke weed because he thinks it makes you stupid. Rajiva believes addicts are categorically unintelligent.
ON WAR:
Rajiva profits off war. He profits off of US military paranoia and the arms race during the cold war. He will morally justify any given conflict in order to wash his hands of it. His logic is based in assumptions that are actively bigoted, and while he can be dragged into recognizing his own biases. he still believes his points stand on their own. If he had no argument, he would still find a way to pretend he is not at fault, until he can gain notoriety or otherwise profit from his involvement.
ON RELIGION:
Rajiva is Vashnavas, but has long since been disconnected from practice and tradition as it was always organized by his family. he has little personal relationship with his religion, but cannot be described as "fallen away" because he has not abandoned prayer and is still vegetarian. In a way, the bad karma he has accumulated throughout his life weighs on him, so any small effort towards a more favorable reincarnation eases his mind. Even if he finds it difficult to spend any time on spirituality.
FUNCTION:
Rajiva functions as the main character of the primary narrative of opnero. He has a tendency towards self reflection and is inclined to take responsibility for people and things he technically has no reason to. He has a sour, pessimistic attitude but cannot justify lashing out at anyone most of the time as it is admittedly unproductive. His sense of pride is tied to his ability to be “functional” as he is incredibly self aware of his abnormality. As a nonwhite man in an American government workplace, a perpetual immigrant who wouldn’t even feel particularly comfortable in gujarat, and a moderately effeminate and noticeably eccentric (autistic) he is a foreigner in every sense. His own repression of his differences has made him a boring and intimidating person on first impression, he has little relationship with his coworkers and does not seek out solidarity with other people of color because he is kind of racist.
RELATIONSHIPS:
ULYSSES EFTHIMIADIS
Chronologically, Rajiva Patel has known Ulysses Efthimiadis the longest. He thinks that Ulysses is a hysterical interloper and busybody placed on the island exclusively to impede him. He is extremely mean to Ulysses without being outright hostile, as that would be unacceptable. It is through his intimidation that Ulysses fudges his data, as he does insist on personally reviewing his readings and “calibrating” them for accuracy. He doesn’t necessarily hate Ulysses as a person, he just hates what he stands for and his work, and most of what they talk about is work.
JAN KOSACKI
Rajiva is initially extremely uneasy about Jan, who openly challenges him both intellectually and personally from their first conversation. It grates him that Kosacki is so primed to jump on him for opinions he expressed thoughtlessly, but it does actually feel good to argue against someone who is willing to accept every assertion as long as it can be defended. Jan does allow him to feel comfortable being open with him, but there is an underlying implication of conditionality that makes Rajiva uncomfortable. He finds Jan to be aesthetically striking, and impressively self assured without being upbeat.
DANNY GREEN
Rajiva is generally neutral on military presence on Amchitka, but the security force sounds like a huge liability to him. Perhaps as a form of self preservation he tries to be friendly with all of them, and is on a first name basis with a few. Though only prolongs social interaction with Danny, who is the only one who comes off as outright needy for Raj’s attention. Danny is a covert flatterer, and Raj likes being accepted in a fraternal way by a more traditionally masculine guy. He fosters an uncommon fondness for danny, and does actively care about his wellbeing. He doesn’t seem to know or care that danny is a liar. They don’t tend to share cigarettes because danny smokes camels and Rajiva prefers newports. It doesn't bother him when Danny says things that are inappropriate or bigoted because Raj doesn't seem to have much of a moral compass.
AINSLEY DOHERTY
Rajiva thinks very little of Ainsley. It is a private relief not only that she is wholly disinterested in him, but that he is also disinterested in her. It is NOT a relief when she begins harassing him about his involvement with march hare. He thinks she is abrasive, nosy and sloppy. and that she has zero tact. She mostly just scares him by popping up where he doesn't expect her.
VSEVOLOD GORCHAKOV
Outright hatred, but after so many years its more of a reflex than anything. He is only so incensed by Red coming onto him because he had liked him so much prior, well also because it was gross. He's gross. Rajiva avoids him, but he almost feels bad being so short with a man who doesn't seem to remember who he is or what he's done to him.