Portrait of a Character – Cama
Cama gets a bum rap.
Origins
As I wrote The Cure is Worse Than the Disease, the idea of a tripartite Daranaean society (four parts if you really want to get technical, and include the men) began to shape up. As a result, I needed to have a representative from what Captain Erika Hernandez ends up referring to as the ‘bargain basement caste’. And so I created Cama.
Portrayal
Irish Setter image, intended to represent Cama (image is for educational purposes only)
Like nearly all Daranaean characters, Cama isn’t really ‘played’ by anyone.
I tend to use images of dogs, so the idea here is that she would resemble an Irish Setter quite a bit. Despite her low status, she could potentially be rather beautiful in appearance.
Personality
Forced into a subservient role, Cama chafes under male control, and would prefer to be the architect of her own destiny. Hence she ‘proves’ her breeder value by selectively aborting any daughters she may be carrying. It’s not just for the selfish reason of wanting better treatment; it’s also because she doesn’t wish her existence on anyone. But she’s also an old school third caste Daranaean female. Hence, she is illiterate.
When she turns menopausal, she is shipped to a research facility that is investigating a cure of Thylacine Paramixovirus. Fortunately, that facility is run by Drs. Trinning and Rechal, who care about their test subjects. In Flight of the Bluebird, Cama gets to show just how heroic she really can be, even in her own quiet way.
Relationships
Elemus
Just like Libba and Thessa, Cama can only have a relationship with the male she is sold to. That is Elemus. While he isn’t exactly kind, he is not actively evil, either. He is certainly not like the murderous Arnis.
Mirror Universe
In the Mirror Universe, life is rougher for every kind of female, and that includes humans and, of course, Daranaeans.
Irish Setter as Mirror Cama (image is for educational purposes only)
But women are also, often, sexier. Maybe she uses her body to get ahead, or at least to survive.
Quote
“See, all you do is you take off a little sprig. And you stick it in your mouth and get saliva on it. It has turned grey, see? That means I am carrying another boy child, just like my pouchling.”
Upshot
I was so glad to not just leave it with her, and find a way to show Cama again, and make it obvious that she had survived her childbearing years. Plus maybe, at least a little bit, Elemus did care for her after all.
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