Being a pan-thar, Tehani strongly resembles a feline anthropomorph. Her body is lean and slender, like a wild hunting cat, though her face has the flatter proportions of a more domestic animal. Her fur is a tawny blond-brown all over her body except for her dark brown tailtip, and she always keeps herself clean and well groomed. Her hair is a rich chestnut red, falling past her shoulders but for a bit of bangs that sweep over her forehead. Her facial features are rather delicate, and her eyes are a deep emerald green. She most enjoys wearing sleeveless dresses with a skirt that falls halfway down her thighs, and her favorite colors are rich and deep, like dark blues and violets.

Tehani is a very curious individual, always ready to learn something new, and eager to apply it once the lesson has been learned. She is completely unbiased in her quest for knowledge, as she holds that all things can be utilized with a positive benefit and does not believe in good or evil as anything other than fabrications of sentient society.

When not engrossed in her work -- or actually, even when she is working, Tehani is a bright and friendly individual. She has a quick smile and loves to help people out, and is the sort of hands-on person who readily holds hands and gives warm hugs to her friends. She manages to maintain an emotional distance from her projects, however, at least until she's sure they won't be dying from a method improperly applied.

Tehani and her mate hail from the planet Malnev, where they once lived as part of one of the technologically advanced continental tribes. At their ranking ceremony, the childhood sweethearts were ranked as Seekers, and after finalizing their pairing were sent off-world. Their destination was Star City, and their task was to investigate the magitechnology that made the space station so well known.

While neither the Fate nor its counterpart, the Abstract Destiny, were at the station at the time they visited, they still discovered geneticists of lesser ability aboard the station, and spent many months learning about genetic manipulation. When they returned to their tribe with the new knowledge and tools, they went right to work implementing the things they had learned. The species they chose to work on was not their own, but the much-treasured hunting cats of their tribe.

The tribe was not at all enthusiastic about their doings, and once litters were born that revealed the pair had succeeded at introducing new colors into the gene pool of the prized cats, Tehani and Shihon were forbidden to continue their experiments. With no reason to remain with their tribe, they returned to Star City not long after the Fate had resumed lurking in the station's vicinity. Far more intrigued by Dritanys's methods than those of the far more moral Doctor Schroeder, they petitioned the tycharis for an interview, and were hired soon after that.

• Shihon (mate)