Qili Ximilarine

The Mechanic

Qili's parents and older brother used to call her Chips, because she was always messing around with old parts like computer chips.
Qili's surname, Ximilarine, is what her culture calls a 'birth surname'. This is because when a child turns 17, they receive their adult surname based on their personality or deeds they have done. A child's birth surname is formed by adding the root 'rine' or 'rin' (meaning 'child') to their mother's first name, either at the start or the end.
In the Qirix system, a 'q' is pronounced 'k'. Qili is pronounced like Keelee.

Cisgender female

16 at the time Survivors takes place (19 BBY)

5 foot 7 (that's 170 centimetres)

Qili's hair is a frizzy dark brown, the colour of burnt umber.

Qili's hair is always tied up in a bun, so it's out of the way for her mechanic work.

Face shape: Rounded and soft, with a u-shaped chin.
Eyes: Qili's eyes are dark umber, leaf-shaped, generally punctuated with dark eye and eyelash makeup.
Nose: Qili has a wide, round, short nose, that turns up slightly at the end. She's always been quite self-conscious about it.
Mouth: Qili's mouth turns down at the corners, giving her a naturally disapproving, sad expression. Her lips are a fairly dark dusky pinkish colour.
Eyebrows: Qili has seriously expressive eyebrows. She takes great pleasure in slowly raising one of them for dramatic effect (to couple with a sarcastic insult or stony silence). They're thin and dark brown, and taper off towards her nose.

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Qili's eyes are a dark brown, umber like her hair, but much darker.

Light brown skin, covered in brown freckles.

Qili is tall and fairly muscular, especially her arms and shoulders.

Qili has a prosthetic lower left arm she built herself after she lost her arm to the xirium poisoning (see her History). Above the top of the prosthetic, her skin has a bluish tinge - an aftereffect of the poison. Other than that, just an abundance of freckles and a few scars from working with unreliable spacecraft. Qili's almost always wearing some sort of plaster.

Qili wears practical clothes - almost always a grubby pair of dungarees essential for mechanic work. She'll usually wear a t-shirt underneath it, as well as sturdy hiking boots (one of which contains a hidden blaster holster).

Neutral:
- Qili's always fiddling with something. It's rare for her to be completely still
- Fiddling with a simple gadget in her hands, unscrewing and putting things back together
- Taps her right foot on the floor
- Buttoning and unbuttoning her right dungaree strap

Happy:
- Hums as she works
- Walks with more of a spring in her step
- Laughs a lot more - usually, she rarely laughs and fades into the background a bit
- Still probably fiddling with something, but seems more relaxed about it

Sad:
- Holds her spanner, or turns it over and over in her hands
- Forehead creases
- Looks at the wall, finds it hard to meet anyone's gaze
- Breathes deeply
- Mouth set in a thin line

Angry:
- Glares passive-aggressively at whatever she's fiddling with
- Mostly silent, but occasionally interrupts the conversation with a cutting comment before turning back to whatever she's doing
- Deep crease between her eyebrows

Qili is motivated by a desire to stay alive, looking out for the child slaves of the village, and honouring her family's legacy.
Survival is number one priority to Qili. With the exception of being against the people who killed her parents, and looking out for children in the village, she is on nobody's side. She puts her own survival first, and couldn't care less about the war waging across the galaxy.
Her mother's last words to her were to look after her sister. Lilo died as a result of the xirium poisonings. Ever since, Qili has been haunted by the guilt of not being able to save her. She resolved to be there for all the children in the village, as they have no-one to look after them - and remind her constantly of Lilo.
With her family dead, Qili sees it as her duty to honour their legacy - one of the reasons she stands up to their oppressors and watches out for others in the village. She'd rather be tortured by the soldiers or spend the night in the xirium mines than disappoint her mother or father.

Qili can be overly distant, sarcastic and cynical. She distances herself from others to stop her and them getting hurt; she's scared to get close to others for fear of losing them as she lost her family. She tends to be depressingly pessimistic, and scathing to those who make what she sees as naive or stupid decisions.
Qili also has a tendency to be blunt and tactless, often saying things without considering others' emotions.

She's often mistrustful of others, and isolates herself from people. She also has an (understandable) hatred of Omega Force.

Qili is an extremely gifted mechanic, like her mother before her. She can build or fix almost anything, and even built the ship that she calls home, the Liberty. She's also talented at more detailed woodcarving and metalwork. Qili's resourceful and can create anything out of what little is available at the time.

Qili's job takes up a lot of her time, and she rarely has time to spare. She spends most of it looking after the village kids, or tinkering with personal projects.

As a child, Qili was a happy and positive person, exactly how you'd expect any child to be. The death of her family and devastation of her village forced her to grow up fast, and Qili became independent, hard-working, cynical and pessimistic, disillusioned with her world, and unwilling to let anyone in. She keeps herself to herself, believing attachment will only lead to pain. The only exeptions are the village children she looks after, in order to keep them safe from slavers and local thugs.

Qili, like all citizens of Qirix, was poisoned after the Dawn's uprising, with xirium qolide. As a result, she lost her left arm and uses a prosthetic. (I mean, that's not exactly a condition but I should probably mention it.)

MBTI - ISTJ-T/Logistician
The Logistician seems like a good fit for Qili. ISTJs often prefer to work alone than have a job done poorly, and are generally extremely honest. Qili is also direct, strong-willed and practical, embodying the Logistician personality well. However, she can also be stubborn, insensitive and judgemental, and often unreasonably blames herself - general ISTJ flaws.
As a Turbulent ISTJ, she is more concerned with what people she cares about think of her, has lower self-confidence, and is more willing to change.
Alignment - True Neutral
I had a hard time debating whether Qili was a Chaotic or True Neutral.

Qili's home planet (Qirix) has a very practical culture and a sceptical view of religion and the idea of a God, which Qili shares. Many citizens of Qirix haven't heard of the Force, and those who have are doubtful of its existence. Qili had heard of it, but dismissed it as spiritual 'magic powers' that probably don't even exist. Until, of course, she meets Blaze Antilles and Riyah vel Rán, and learns that the Force is real (and not just a power Jedi have that let them lift rocks and make stuff float).

Qili wishes she could free her planet of its cruel oppressors, but she no longer has the energy or fight to do anything about it. She also doesn't want to exprience the aftermath of the last uprising ever again (see her History).

Qili works as a mechanic in a small village in her home country of 4A-Alpha.

Purple and magenta: they remind her of watching the sun set with her older brother, before her planet was plunged into war.

Her brother's home-made bread, which somehow only tasted nice when he made it.

Her toolkit, which her mother gave to her the night of the uprising (again, see her History). It's a constant reminder of her family, which can be painful, but it also gives Qili the strength to get through her toughest days, and keep her family's legacy alive.

Qili keeps a small blaster in the holster of her right boot. She also always carries a deactivator, and a stun blaster, as well as being more than capable to knock someone out with her fists.

The desert rats known as lixines, that she and her brother used to catch and build homes for in the early years of her childhood.

Qili went to a small village school from the ages of 4-6, before Omega Force invaded her planet. From the ages of 6-14, she attended a school run by Omega Force; which only taught them the barest minimum, as well as mining and hunting skills. At 14, she dropped out of school full time to start work as a mechanic.

Qili was born on the planet Qirix-4A, part of the Qirix system, in a small town in the Nation of Alpha. She lived with her mother Ximila, her father Xorion and her older brother, Qez.
Qili's planet was seized by an army of murderous terrorists known as Omega Force when she was 6 years old - barely a month after the birth of her sister, Lilo. She can hardly remember a time of peace: when soldiers didn't beat people in the streets, when the village wasn't taxed, when citizens weren't forced into mines of volatile xirium.
When the uprising known as the Dawn was formed in her home village, Qili was 11 years old. Her mother, father and now 17-year-old brother joined the group, eager to free 4A of its oppressors. Although she didn't understand why there were always so many people crowding into her family's podhome every night, Qili was happy to sit in the midst of it all, talking to anyone who would listen about her latest invention, or building someone a free bubble-powered rocket.
On the night the Dawn stormed the capital, Qili's mother gave Qili the toolkit she always used in her mechanic workshop, telling Qili it was hers now. She told Qili that her, Qili's father and Qez were going out for a bit, and that she would have to look after Lilo while they were gone.
It was the first time Qili had ever been left on her own.
She thought it was fantastic. She and Lilo raided the cupboards for qelipops and rode their hoverskates up and down the street until it got dark - it was strange that no soldiers came to tell them to go inside. In fact, it was particularly strange, because Qili didn't see any soldiers that night at all.
Qili was woken in the early morning by a loud noise in the street. Peering out of the windown, she saw a soldier standing in the street, his platoon a little way behind, reading something from a bit of paper in his hand.
'Your pitiful rebellion has failed, and those involved will suffer the consequences.'
Qili hadn't got a clue what that meant, but now the soldier was reading out names. Names of people she knew.
By now, everyone on the street was peering out of their windows. Some people were crying. Were they upset that they'd been woken up, Qili wondered?
'Ximila Lifebuilder. Xorion Bold. Qez Goldenheart.'
Qili sat up straight, leaning further out of the window. Those were her family. What was going on?
Barely a minute later, Qili's holocall chip beeped with a message. It was a recording of her mother's voice. She sounded hushed, as if she was trying not to be heard, but it was definitely her mother.
'Chips, if you're listening to this, I'm sorry. Your father, Qez and I tried to free our planet, but we failed. The- the soldiers are going to have us killed in the morning.'
'I'm so sorry, Chips.'
'I wish I could see you in person one last time, but that's impossible. Will you be brave and look after Lilo while we're gone? Can you do that for me?'
'I have to go now, Chips. I'm sorry. I love you. Remember that. I love y-'
Now orphaned and alone, Qili and Lilo were taken in by an elderly neighbour of theirs, Mrs Hope. On the day of the executions, Qili had to stay indoors, although she begged Mrs Hope to let her see her family one last time.
When she heard the screams echoing across the village, she was glad she hadn't gone.
Qili thought she'd lost everything. She was wrong.
A week later, villages started dying. Omega Force had poisoned the wells. On the third day, she felt a stabbing pain in her left arm. It felt as if the bones in it were being burned in her skin - as if the nerves were being stabbed by an electrolaser. She was rushed to the cramped, underequipped village hospital, where she underwent a dangerous arm amputation to stop the toxin spreading.
After two weeks in hospital, she returned home to find Lilo, dying and alone.
The toxin had spread to far into her body for the hospital to save her. Lilo died in her sister's arms.
Qili, now completely alone, with half her village and all her family dead, faced a future she could barely comprehend. With no parents to generate income, and no income to allow her to keep the house, Qili moved in with Mrs Hope and her husband, where she stayed for three years. She was forced to leave after Mr Wolf disapproved of the way Qili would help slaves and stand up to soldiers. Hearing the arguments from downstairs, Qili decided she couldn't intrude on their lives any longer. She packed a bag, and left for another village, away from the pain her of her hometown.
Unsure what else to do, Qili started a mechanic workshop, fixing and building ships and machinery - as well as her own ship and home, the Liberty. She befriended the local children, most of whom had become slaves after they were orphaned by the xirium poisonings. To her regret, she knew she could never make enough money to feed and house even a few of them.
This is where we find Qili at the start of Survivors.

Mother: Qili's mother was called Ximila Lifebuilder. Her surname referred to the way she could build and fix anything, seemingly creating 'life'. Ximila was killed after she was part of the uprising of 4A (see History). Out of all her family, Qili was closest to her mother, who was the one that taught and encouraged her how to fix and make things.
Father: Her father, Xorion Bold, was first a xenstone miner, then a xirium miner after the invasion of 4A. (He received his surname for his exuberant personality and interestingly coloured clothing choices.) Like his wife, he was executed by Omega Force.

Qez Goldenheart: Qez was Qili's older brother, also killed in the executions after the uprising. Qili was close to her brother when she was younger; the two of them would bake Qirix bread and watch the sun setting over the desert. As the two of them got older, they drifted apart somewhat, although still retaining a relationship riddled with banter and teasing (mainly on Qili's part about Qez's latest annoying girlfriend). Qez got his surname the month before he died, on account of his warm-heartedness and the way he looked out for everyone.
Lilo Ximilarine: Lilo was Qili's younger sisters. Though there was a five year age gap between them, the two were close, as Qez was too old to join in with games Qili wanted to play. Qili also saw it as her duty as an older sister to look out for Lilo. Guilt from Lilo's death prompted the way Qili looks out for other children today.

Qili's family came from Beta. Her mother and father moved to Alpha before Qili was born, so she never knew the rest of her family.

Picture credit to the Girl Maker picrew by Ummmandy - it's awesome and you should go check it out!