Nirgal was an important Martian political leader, the ectogene son of Hiroko Ai and Desmond Hawkins.

Early life in Zygote

Nirgal was born circa M-25 (2077) in Zygote. He was a sansei ectogene, the genetic son of Hiroko and the Coyote. From early on, he developed an extraordinary ability to sense heat, accurately estimate temperature, and somehow flow heat. He was very interested in Sax's classes and asked lots of questions. He saw Sax and Hiroko as two opposited, one (Sax, the white) seeing the unexplained as a menace that should be treated by science, and the other (Hiroko, the green) exalting the unknown as something holy and powerful. He befriended Simon Frazier during his illness and was a bone marrow donor, but he could not prevent Simon's death, which was Nirgal's shocking first contact with human mortality.

In ca.2091, Coyote brought him along on a trip around the settlements of the underground, Nirgal's first excursion outside of Zygote, during which they both learnt they were father and son. Nirgal decided he would travel all over Mars.

From early on, he bore an ambiguous relationship of love and competition in leadership with Jackie.

Sabishii University

As part of the demimonde, he studied ecological engineering at the Sabishii University, where he discovered a lot about the world. Thanks to Nanao, issei co-founder of Sabishii, he learnt lung-gom pa and became Mars's best runner.

Free Mars leader

Along with Jackie, he was a charismatic leader of Free Mars and had many friends and followers. As soon as Art Randolph arrived on Mars in 2101, he and Nirgal immediately became close friends.

Nirgal helped greatly to prepare the second revolution.

Independence revolution and ambassadorship to Terra

Following the revolution, he was one of the Martian ambassadors to Terra in 2128.

Life as an ecopoet and a feral

After leading this eventful life, tired of searching for Hiroko and uninterested in politics, he became an ecopoet near Sabishii; his basin was devastated by a sandstorm.

He became part of a farmer, hunter and gatherer co-op. He very often took part in long-distance races across the Martian surface, which he won. He met Zo and flirted with her, until he discovered who she really was: Jackie's daughter, playing with him.

In the 23rd century, he often visited the remaining First Hundred in Odessa.

Notes

In the short story Jackie On Zo in The Martians, Jackie discloses the long-hidden identity of Zo's father as being Nirgal, which would add a heavy layer of unacknowledged undertext to these flirtatious games.

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