Name: Shaq'l'phard (pronounced: Shackleford)

Age: 347 'human' years, 67 Cathartidae years

Job: Chief Medical Officer

Planet: Chordata

Species: Cathartidae

Description: He has beady little black eyes and a long, curved beak that is specifically designed for rendering dead flesh from bone. He is actually rather large and imposing, but tends to hunch over as to appear otherwise. He wears an overly large lab coat to cover his feathers and oddly shaped appendages from his patients' sight. It has been his experience that most do not feel comfortable with the appearance of a Cathartidae beside their hospital beds.

Personality: He is quite proud of the fact that he is a doctor and often comes off as being an ass about it. He's not very well with names and often refers to people incorrectly. He also can get rather odd at times.

Species Traits: The Cathartidae people are mainly carrion eaters, which causes many other species to look the other way whenever they are around.

History: Despite being a scavenger, Shaq'l'phard attended medical school and achieved a medical license. Some believed that he did this simply so he could legally be near corpses, but that was beside the point. The man was a damn good doctor and was quite capable of performing any number of complicated surgeries. Despite his clear brilliance, times were not easy on him. As stated earlier, his appearance often unsettled his patients. Which made it quite difficult to work with them in a standard practice. So he set up a small practice in the slums of the city, where anyone could go if they needed medical assistance and didn't want any questions asked about it.

He stayed on Earth for many years in his long life, learning a vast amount of different medical techniques. When the ships were built, it was only natural that he should be the doctor on at least one of them. And he made his case perfectly clear. There simply was not anyone better suited for the job on the entire planet and if anyone managed to find someone better than he, he would quickly prove them wrong. In order to shut the infernal man up, they assigned him to the last ship, hoping that whenever they got to where ever it was they were going, they hopefully wouldn't see him again.

Other: Shaq'l'phard often licks his beak when examining patients' wounds. The site of a fresh wound brings with it an insatiable hunger, that he has difficulty keeping under control. You may walk in with a paper cut, and on a bad day, walk out a multiple amputee.

Hobbies/Pets: He greatly enjoys reading and researching new medical techniques and various styles as well. When not performing necessary medical activities, he can often be found simply sitting and reading on a variety of subjects.

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by [Pnelma Tirian]