Portrait of a Character – Rechal

Rechal worked well as a plot device in Take Back the Night and Flight of the Bluebird.

Viszla representing Rechal (image is provided for educational purposes only).

Origins

Because Take Back the Night started off with Inta I’s death at the hands of Arnis, I needed a medical examiner. However, working directly with the coroner would have meant, perhaps, getting to the truth too quickly. Instead, I needed someone who Arnis could bribe with research funding. And then in Flight of the Bluebird, I needed for Trinning to have a colleague with an unsavory past who could be given discovery credit more readily than the steadfast Trava. This character fits the bill rather well for both purposes.

Portrayal

Like most Daranaean characters, no one really ‘plays’ Rechal.

Personality

Dedicated to medicine, but not above cutting a few corners, this character shows an unethical side when he accepts research funding in exchance for keeping quiet about Arnis’s role in Inta I’s death.

Relationships

Dr. Rechal has no known relationships. However, like any wealthy Daranaean male, he would take three wives, one from each caste.

Mirror Universe

There are no impediments to Rechal existing in the Mirror. Daranaeans don’t have the Y Chromosome Skew, but a doctor could conceivably be wealthy and well-connected enough to take three wives.

Quote

“Very well. I will check right now. But if I find it was a boy child, well, you know the consequences.”

Upshot

While writing the Daranaean stories, one theme which emerges can be one of men being evil. And I didn’t want that. Hence, it was great to be able to allow Rechal some measure of redemption in Flight of the Bluebird. As a result, his sentence is commuted, whereas Arnis never gets out of prison.

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