Portrait of a Character – Vidam
Vidam rises to greatness in my fan fiction.
Origins
During the Star Trek fan fiction story Take Back the Night, I wanted for there to be a believable witness who would be able to refute Arnis’s accusations against Mistra. But this person would have to be a little afraid of Arnis although ultimately they would do the right thing. Yet given the sexist nature of Daranaean society, this person would have to be male. In order to put him into the right position, I made him the Prime Wife, Dratha‘s, eldest son. Enter Vidam.
Portrayal
As with nearly all Daranaeans, I do not have anyone in mind to play Vidam.
Adult Vidam, one of the Daranaens and son of Prime Wife Dratha
This is an altered image of a Golden Retriever. As always, readers are encouraged to use their imaginations when thinking about the look and sound of most Daranaeans.
I actually envision him as being more fox-like in appearance, so the snout would be thinner and more pointed.
Personality
The name is Hungarian for “cheerful”, but Vidam is usually far from cheerful. Instead, much like the Calafan, Treve, he is an elder son with a great weight of responsibility on his shoulders. At the end of Take Back the Night, with Arnis taken away in the futuristic equivalent of handcuffs, the teenaged Vidam is suddenly responsible for his family. He insists that Dratha in particular help him, but it is he who makes the decision to allow Seppa to learn to read and write.
When he gets older, he becomes a politician, and is the standard bearer for the liberals in the Daranaean government, in his role as a Beta councilor.
Relationships
Like all wealthy Daranaean men, Vidam takes three wives, one from each caste.
Ethara
Unlike other Prime Wives, Ethara is more of an equal partner to Vidam. Like many human political spouses, she attends functions with him and is otherwise a part of a charm offensive.
Morza
The jokester secondary, as is seen in Temptation, is one of the daughters of the war hero (and eventual Alpha), Acreon. Morza is also a close friend to Vidam’s half-sister, Cria.
Kela
The least known of Vidam’s wives, Kela is a member of the third caste (and is named for one of my great-grandmothers, actually).
Mirror Universe
Mirror Vidam
The Daranaeans exist in the Mirror (Empress Hoshi refers to their planet as “always smelling like wet dog”).
I see them as more like wolves than dogs, and being rather vicious indeed. I doubt that Vidam would be so cultured and congenial in the Mirror Universe.
Quote
“Thylacine Paramyxovirus has devastated our population, yet we devastate it even more with compulsory euthanasia. Doctors, I know, are working around the clock to try to cure that horrible malady. My brother, the doctor, Trinning – he says that they are close to a true breakthrough. What will we do when they have finally cured it? Will we, then, decide to make a law to euthanize our secondaries? Where does it end? I say it ends now. It ends here! Third caste females who are menopausal can do all manner of things. They can still cook and keep house. They can still care for children. {and} They could, I dare say, do more if we gave them the opportunity. A vote for, for me, that is a vote against the euthanasia law. I say we end it now!”
Upshot
It was very important to me for the Daranaean men to not necessarily be bad guys. At least not all the time. Vidam is one of the first male Daranaean heroes that I wrote. I will bring him back at some point.
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