Bios
Randolph CarrBiography compiled by Anita NealName: Randolph Carr Child of Derek Carr's second marriage, Randolph (“Randy”) Carr was raised on Carr Plantation, Hope Nation. Derek Carr died during the Naval Rebellion of 2241, when Randy was only nine. This traumatised the young boy, and Randy became increasingly unruly as he grew. In 2246, when he was fourteen, he sparked a major confrontation between his (considerably older) nephew Anthony Carr, then Stadtholder of Hope Nation, and the Reunified Church when he publicly insulted a bishop and then ran away from home. While on the run Randy was invited aboard the visiting UNS Olympiad where he unexpectedly met Nicholas Seafort, whom he had always blamed for his father's death. His typically impulsive reaction to this meeting was to attempt to club Seafort to death with a chair, in which he was nearly successful. On his recovery from his injuries Seafort vacated the death penalty imposed on Randy by a military court and impressed him into the UNNS, thus conferring UN citizenship on him and avoiding the legal necessity to return him to Hope Nation and a Church correctional farm. At this point the alien fish reappeared in Hope Nation system and Randy, now adopted by Seafort, played a key role in a number of ways: he proved to be a natural linguist and helped develop a written code for communication and made the breakthrough discovery that the outriders required salt and were willing to trade for it. He also carried the distinction of being the first human to be taken inside a fish and live to tell the tale. He was able to insist that Hope Nation remain independent because of his position as the only person the outriders would negotiate through. In 2247 Carr accompanied Seafort back to home system to present the historic treaty between the outriders and humans to the UN General Assembly for ratification. Randy's main characteristics are impulsivity coupled with a stubborn personal integrity. He begins with an almost pathological loathing of authority, possibly a reaction to the death of his adored father. His intense hatred of Seafort almost undoes them both; when Randy realises his mistake he conceals his identity from Seafort from a desire to atone for his crime, even at the cost of his own life. Randy's need for some sort of personal anchor is not lost on Seafort, who adopts him. Randy quickly comes to love and respect his new father, though from Seafort's viewpoint establishing his authority over his new son takes some time. During this process, however, Seafort himself has cause to be grateful for Randy's stubbornness when Randy takes extreme measures to save Seafort's life during the increasingly bloody confrontation between the Church and Hope Nation's secular authorities. Randy's stubbornness again comes into play when the fish reappear; he is able to use his position as linguist to assure Hope Nation's independence as part of the treaty forged by Seafort with the fish. References (all from ChH): Loss of father 5-6; confrontation between Stadtholder
and Church 40-43; attempted murder of Seafort 69-71; adoption by Seafort 256-257;
rescues Seafort 401-405; outriders insist on R's presence 538; treaty negotiations
607-619.
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