Tamias Orenberg

Profile
Name: Tamias Orenberg

Species: Chipmunk

Race: Striatian

Age: Late 30's

Weight: 117 Ibs.

Birthplace: Unknown

Current Homes: Potawatomi County and Spirit Wolf Island

Current Occupation: The Chipmunk Chieftain

Description
Tamias Orenberg, a staring character of the Chipmunk Kingdom storyline, is a Chipmunk of the Striatian race. Like most chipmunks of his kind he is of a medium build with an athletic body to which he adorns with gem encrusted gold jewelry, ornately patterned loin cloth and a head piece featuring ten status features. One oddity he exhibits is the fact he wears glasses even though his vision is flawless. He does so to remind himself of the human ethics, instilled in him by his human gardians, that temper his chipmunk side.

Tamias is currently the Chipmunk Chieftain having been recently been anointed to that position after serving ten years as a one of the Chipmunk Kingdom's chief diplomat. Anointed at age 33 Tamias is the youngest chipmunk to become chieftain in the history of Chipmunk Civilization. His diplomatic skills and oration skills have been vital to keeping increasing tensions between Animal nations and HSO controlled human nations from erupting into a global war.

Tamias has been very active in spreading the light of Tawa to those in need of it. He has traveled around the world speaking at countless functions and events. Seen as being collective and contemplative and often deep in thought and meditation the Chipmunk Chieftain is well known for being a calming voice of reason to chipmunks and animals all around the world which he has leveraged many times in his efforts to stem the eruption of war. His oration skills have won the respect by countless scholars and world leaders. To his most trusted friends he is a loving, and affectionate person. Though they sometimes see a vulnerable side to him stemming from his uncertain past and how he is sometimes very protective of them and how he wonders how things he has no memory of has left him scared.

Personality
Tamias's personality is that of depth and complexity and thus is multifaceted. But in simplified terms it is divided into two fronts. His so called public front is that of charisma, sharp wit, oration, and diplomacy. It is not very easy to hide one's own inner flaws from this sharp eyed chipmunk as his wit makes it very easy for him to spot them and make the person face them. He will leverage that attribute on friends in a bit to help them face their flaws and overcome them while on foes to break their resolve and gain the upper hand. Although he is very much approachable to his overall friendly and optimistic manner. That public front is also one of maticulous order to the point that even some chipmunks that are very orderly by nature themselves complain of him overdoing it a bit. But underneath that front is a second front that unvails his true self. One that is more tender and weighted down by internal conflicts. An uncertain past leaves him with an utter distain of abuse of others and emmense compassion to help and accept those who have been outcasted, Wolfee Darkfang who lost her once mighty lupin empire, being a prime example. This empathy go so far that he will somtimes aquire and repair neglected objects either discarded or are from failed product lines. Like most chipmunks but especially so in Tamias, to earn his trust and friendship is a monumental acheivment. But to those that have earned his trust, they have basically won a friend for life who is warm hearted, affectionate, and very playfull but would do anything even put his own life on the line to help his friends to which he tends to be a bit protective of.

Tamias's Uncertain Past
Tamias is an orphan that has no memory of his early childhood nor of his blood parents. At the age of 13 he was adopted by Milo and Thelma Orenberg and taken to their home in the American Rement Settlements in Normandy France.. Given their sir name, he was lovingly raised by his human guardians in the human culture. Being the only chipmunk in the settlements he always felt alone due to his differences from his human peers. That loneliness was exacerbated when at the age of 20 he witnessed thousands of Anthropomorphic Animals slaughtered by the HSO as they took over France. Making Matters worse the HSO arrested his guardians for harboring an animal.

Luckily for the chipmunk just before the arrest occured, his human guardians had Tamias smuggled out of France and sailed across the ocean to the Chipmunk Kingdom where he could be safe among his own kind. Even though he felt accepted in the Chipmunk Kingdom and quickly fell in love with the kingdom and adopted the chipmunk culture, he struggled with an internal conflict between his natural instincts somthing nurtured by Chipmunk culture and his upbringing under the human culture. Wolfee Darkfang one of two of his most trusted friends works with him to ease this internal conflict. Though that conflict resurfaces from time to time.

Other points of Tamias's past that bothered him are not being able to remember his early childhood, wondering who his blood parents are, and how he received scares across his chest and belly. He wonders why things like a dark room, shadows casted in certain ways, even receiving routine medical exams, and restraint triggers intense flashbacks of overwhelming pain and torture that leaves him paralyzed in fear. Despite great effort to get to the bottom of these nagging questions he never has gotten clear answers. Thus he has always felt that something about him is being held back both by the Chipmunk Kingdom and his parent as if neither wanted him to know about his past.

Connection with Norman Lee
There is speculation among scientists, scholars, and many other officials that Tamias's past is intimately tied with Jerry Lee's brother, Norman Lee. Some claim that Tamias is non other than Norman Lee. They cite the fact that Norman, due to being deathly sick and battered by his torturous incarceration by the Inner Circle, was sent to the Human Nations to be placed in cryogenic stasis due to medicine of the time having no means to heal him. However Tamias himself keeps refuting the speculation citing that Jerry and Norman's lifetime took place during the Struggle against the Inner Circle over three hundred years ago.

However deep down Tamias sometimes wonders if those speculating his connections with Norman Lee are right. Historical documents often describe Norman to have been found by his rescuers with lacerations across his chest and belly. Also the torture inflicted upon Norman by his captures and the resultant trauma also could explain the violent flashbacks that periodically cripples Tamias. But time and again the Chipmunk Cheiftain denies the connections. That denial is most clearly reflected in the perfectionist ways he conducts himself and his activities insuring to near obsessive levels that everything he has his hand on is flawless down to the last detail. Everything from how he speaks and behaves, to the den he lives in has been compiled with detailed care to insure an image of rock solid dignity and stability and to hide any preceived flaws from outside scrutiny. Only to those he has complete and utter trust in does he open himself up to. Those closest to Tamias often say that he is simply denying his connections to his past life becuase of a preceived humuliation that he himself, a person that holds utter distain of abuse, was a victim of it to a point that it litterally broke his soul during his hellish past life as Norman Lee and greatly fears accepting the truth of it. Thus he feels the need to over acheive a bit to prove that he is not Norman and therefore not broken.

Psychological and Health Issues
Due to the brutallity Tamias indured during his childhood as Norman Lee as well as his 350 years in Cryogenic stasis, he suffers from number of Psychological and health issues. These include periodic flashbacks and nightmares of being subject to acts of brutality leaving him peralized in fear. He also has phobias of restraint, hospitals and medical proceedurs, and dark places. He is prescribed medications for post dramatic stress disorder to keep the flashbacks and nightmares to a managable level. In additon Tamias goes in for Nanobot injections annually to manage side effects of having been in cryogenic stasis, though he does not know this due to information being withheld from him by the Chipmunk Kingdom government. All he is told is that he needs the treatment due to a rare disorder he suffered from as a child.

Harem
Like most male chipmunks Tamias maintains a harem, a number of females who's dens fall within the territory of an alpha male. Unlike most harems Tamias hold the unique notoriety of having ten females the most a chipmunk has ever had. His two principal mates in his harem is a female elf named Aurora and Wolfee Darkfang.

Relationship With Aurora
During an extended hike in the Kickatan Forest located in the Appalachian Mountains, he encountered Aurora wondering the forest alone. He offered her shelter and food. Out of gratitude for his generosity she offered to join his harem to which he gladly accepted. Overtime the two fell in love and Tamias made her his mate. See Aurora for more details