Character Information:

Employee of Phantasmagoria Art Supplies & Gallery (Main Promenade); Independent Artist

The Merak family has, for three generations, operated an ecological research station on Tagra IV. One day a little girl named Derani was born who threatened to turn everyone’s lives upside down. Derani came into the world like a whirlwind; as she grew she proved herself to be a girl of tremendous passions, although her talents were as far from science as possible. 

Her family struggled to understand her. Showing no regard for education or social conventions, she spent most of her time painting, sculpting, sketching, and generally making a horrible mess. 

She has often been described as ‘unbalanced’, even accused of being manic depressive, but has violently refused any such diagnoses. Her feelings run a wild gamut between explosive ecstasy and heavy sorrow on a daily basis, and she is known to succumb to laughter or tears at a moment's notice, sometimes in inappropriate situations. She channels her raging emotions into her art and is convinced she will be famous one day.

Derani left her family at the age of fifteen, hoping to find her destiny somewhere else in the universe. She bounced from place to place, never really finding a home where she felt her art was sufficiently appreciated, and often she has had to take on a variety of odd jobs to support herself. She has come to Deep Space Five with the promise of a position in an art supply store and gallery on the Main Promenade, and she hopes that in this environment her talents will flourish and her artistic merit will at last be appreciated.

Derani is two hundred percent devoted to her artistic work, but she is also a compulsive pack rat, has no organizational skills whatsoever, keeps unpredictable hours, and constantly forgets things that others might consider important. Her behaviour to the outside world is erratic and confusing, but she is never bothered by this. Inside her head everything makes sense, and she follows her own heart despite how her behaviour might affect others. She is a bit of a flirt, though tends not to keep relationships as she is too much of a scatterbrain and a loose cannon.  She also has a raging temper at times and can be a fierce combatant in an argument.