Groups

Description

Thanks to the existence of this character in the Multiverse since August 2009, my own amorphous judgment of her ethnic background spanning two years or so, and an in character anti-aging treatment at the hands of the Aschen Confederation, I the roleplayer had the most difficult time finding an appropriate image reference, hence the different folks in these photos all representing the same character. (I also have prosopagnosia, so my habit of finding multiple photos of different people [who basically look identical to me] to represent the same character may seem strange to 98% of the population.) Apologies for any confusion.

Avatar photo credit: Vaibhav009, Flickr. Public domain image. Attribution license. (Note to Vaibhav: If I am mistaken, and you do NOT grant permission for public use of your photograph, kindly inform me and I will remove it.)

Credit: Ikram Masmoudi, University of Delaware.
A better image reference of Ali after the Aschen anti-aging treatment.


Credit: Ezekial
Prisoner ID from her time on Hadante. Note usage of the Arabic name


Credit: Ezekial
Aschen passport. Note anti-aging treatment's effects, as well as different usage of the Arabic name.

Personality

Tahira Ali is a diminutive woman, shorter than the vast majority of people, causing her to have to look up and others to look down when in conversation. She has thin black hair cut unevenly to about the length of her bosom. Ali's prominent features are a widow's peak at the center of her hairline, and high, sharp cheekbones. In relief, her deep-set, grey eyes often seem empty and vacant, making her expressions hard to read. With almond-shaped eyes and olive-toned skin, Ali appears to be of Iranian descent. She appears to be in her thirties, perhaps early forties, belying her actual age.

For those who have seen one of the many wanted posters found practically everywhere the head turns, and in most major languages, Ali's face is quickly recognizable, as an icon of her times and notoriety, though the name or the identity belonging to the face may not be immediately recalled by the casual observer. Such wanted posters commonly appear on public bulletin boards, in post offices, and in intelligence agencies and police stations, and the 2007 photograph from the wanted posters is the one most often displayed on newscasts and in newspaper articles, when Ali is mentioned.

Those who have met Ali report that their first impressions often coincided - most recognized her face, a few recalled her name, but all noticed her distinctly foreign accent, quiet and unassuming mannerisms, and her lack of eye contact. One mentioned a sense of sadness about the woman. Another suggested fear. A patron present in Gambit's Bar the night of her arrest recalled that Ali did not resist or run. Survivors of bombings in which Ali is believed to have been involved recall a certain sense of disregard for life. One boy who was almost killed remembered Ali kneeling at his side and touching his hand and cheek before departing.

Equipment

If examined, the items in Ali's possession number very few. They are as follows:

- a signed pardon from President Richard Adar of the Aschen Confederation
- a Sagittaria Prefecture identification card
- a Sagittaria Prefecture driver's license
- an Aschen passport
- parole papers, health papers, naturalization papers

- a copy of the Aschen Articles of Confederation
- a brown, leatherbound copy of the Book of Kobol
- a silver pendant on a silver chain, of a crescent moon with a bow and arrow superimposed on the crescent
- an ankle bracelet which is a tracking device

- a letter in Latin from Carlos Hodgson, dated 26 April 1967, the paper folded crisply, the ink dark and neat
- a letter in Arabic from Sumitra Almontaser, dated 3 September 1968, marred with a few drops of blood, the paper worn and slightly damaged
- a wanted poster in Arabic, with Ali's 1968 and 2007 photographs juxtaposed, issued for 'Tahira Ali' by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- a wanted poster in English, with Ali's 2007 photograph and heading "FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive", issued for "Tahira Ali", by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
- a black and white photograph of a young East Asian girl (who is clearly not Ali), dated 1967, folded in half twice

Other than the ankle bracelet and pendant, some of these are tucked into her pockets, and typically neither shared with nor displayed to strangers or acquaintances. The rest are at her home on Langara.

History

Tahira Ali Almontaser (pronounced TAH-h'rah ah-LEE ahl-MOON-tah-SEER), usually known by her laqab, Ali, was born on 12 May 1950. She was adopted by her aunt, Sumitra Wurud Almontaser, a Christian missionary. Ali was raised in Mutalistan, a nation influenced by the intersection of Persian and Arab culture. Mutalistan was predominantly Arab and Persian with a Pashtun minority, but was governed by an oligarchy of Swedish and Scottish colonists. Sumitra had relocated to Mutalistan with Hope International Missions, an Evangelical Christian proselytizing organization. Within a year of her move, Sumitra gave birth to her own daughter, Alaia as-Sabriyya Almontaser. Ali and her sister are two months apart. While Alaia attended an international school in Tokyo on a full scholarship, Ali attended a private Catholic school in the Mutalistani capital of Hari. Ali was a quiet student who rarely participated in class discussions. Her grades later revealed talent in maths but consistently poor performance in the humanities. In 1965, she became associated with a political fringe group that soon began to advocate violent extremism at the same time she became an acquaintance of Mutalistani official Carlos Hodgson. Ali graduated in 1968, two months before the August Revolution in August 1968.

By this time, Ali's reputation within Hataf, then a budding terrorist organization, granted her the attention of its founder. At the height of the Revolution, Ali fled the country, but not before she murdered an Arab Mutalistani official and his family and an American journalist. Within two weeks, the regime collapsed. With Hataf's blessing, Ali traveled to Germany where she murdered thirteen more victims, including U.S. Senator Jordan Normandeau, who had been nominated for the presidency; Roman Catholic Cardinal Srgjam Doshi, considered a viable papal candidate; and Mohammed Ntamuhanga, the President-elect of Tanzania. After a series of assassinations and bombings in several countries, Ali traveled to the United States. In December 1968, Ali became the first woman to be named on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List.

In December 1968, Ali arrived in New York City where she murdered two Americans, one a police officer on official duty, before traveling across the country. In the next two decades, she personally murdered several dozen people in at least eight other states and six other countries. Ali has been implicated dozens of terrorist attacks, both successful and thwarted, in dozens of countries. After the death of Hataf's original founder in the 1970s, Ali was named the organization's supreme leader. Ali was responsible for expanding the scope Hataf's operations beyond Mutalistan to develop the organization into an international terrorist threat with operatives stationed in over eighty countries. In 1998, Ali met with Usama bin Ladin, Al Qaida's chief, in Pakistan at a meeting also attended by Egyptian Ibrahim El Ghamry, who later defected from Hataf to the United States. Until recently, the reward for information leading to her capture was $25 million. The FBI had assembled a dedicated task force of three hundred agents to locate and apprehend Ali. This task force was led by Special Agent Natalie E. Schultz, doubly assigned to the Joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force, and was mostly disbanded following Ali's recent apprehension by the Aschen Confederation.

And a special out of character note now: If you made it this far in this profile, good for you! I know I can write long, cumbersome profiles at time, and have actually made significant cuts -- a few more as of 8 March 2011 -- to this one to prune it and keep only the important and relevant parts. Here's a nice spoiler to reward you for your efforts in reading other folks' profiles. The information on this entire profile page is not only incomplete, but in some places intentionally skewed or inaccurate and in-characterly biased. It was written with the intentional omission of certain key facts and details, which I'm afraid you will have to find out in character. Now, back to the biography:

Last year, in a controversial move, Aschen Confederation former President Richard Adar pardoned Ali for terrorism charges against the Aschen, including the assassination of former President Vallis. Later, Ali was apprehended by agents from the Aschen Langaran Defense Agency (LDA) after assaulting Aschen Sire Thomas Zarek of Tauron. Convicted in Triad, Ali was sentenced to a brief term in Whispering Mountain Maximum Security Prison with hard labor. As a result of then-U.S. Attorney General Naazmat Chakladar's lobbying efforts, the Aschen Parliament voted to overturn Ali's pardon and she faced a second Triad where presiding judge High Chancellor Travell sentenced her to life on Hadante, an Aschen penal colony, with the possibility of parole in ten yahrens (roughly equivalent to earth-years).

After some time spent on Hadante, Ali became acquainted with the Tauron Guatrau of Hadante and the Aschen's artificial intelligence unit Aiyanna-B. Later, Ali was scheduled for a third Triad to consider a possible commutation of sentence. The final sentence was "You will remain tagged with a tracking device, permitted only to remain here in the city of Sagittaron. Your home will be located at the Minimum Security Correction facility outside of town. You will be inside that facility by dusk, or you will be arrested and your sentence will be changed to life at Whispering Mountain [Maximum Security]." (Barney_fife) Most recently, Ali converted to Kobollianism, the Aschen religion, and was paroled and granted citizenship. She resides permanently on Langara, the Aschen homeworld, and periodically returns to Terra. She has been seen in the company of Sophia Voth, a Nuphthelian (spelling?) assassin later associated with the rogue android Aiyanna-A of Graystone Industries. Ali's name, Tahira Ali Almontaser is often used inconsistently by the Aschen government -- as Tahira Ali, Tahira Almontaser, and Tahira Ali Almontaser. This ambiguity is in part due to her own use of the shortened form Tahira Ali, dropping the final nisbah.

Last updated:
8 March 2011

Tahira Ali's Story