Thanks Wes.
In response to Jake's comments:
Yes, the rogue skill could be toned down. The bigger problem is that I started with an introverted hacker/lock-picker kind of thief, then decided that she can't get past the security on a Yamataian warship that way, and then decided to change course into a con-man (err, con-girl?) kind of character.
Now I'm changing my mind again because I don't think I can pull it off.
I believe I will make her a Yamataian instead, maybe from some impoverished backwater planet somewhere? This way I get to keep my original lock-picker idea. She'd be a terrible thief aboard a Yamataian warship, but she'd have a fair chance aboard a ship without a MEGAMI system or equivalent AI guardian.
As for her morality system, Oharu simply doesn't understand that stealing is wrong. The concept is so alien to her mind that she can't comprehend it. Every time she gets punished for stealing, she doesn't think "so stealing is wrong", but instead thinks "ooh so I'm not supposed take other people's exotic underwear without asking first, my bad", in the same way that we get mildly embarrassed because we broke some obscure unspoken rule among our peers, and get somewhat irritated that no one told us about it.
From Oharu's point of view, she's just breaking a lot of these unspoken rules, without seeing the underlying principle of personal property. She also gets the sense that she's not too popular, which she attributes to her constant rule-breaking. So she compensates by trying to work extra hard, and bribing people with baked goods.
All of which makes more sense with a Yamataian character. Hmm. I must ponder this more...
As for the Arabian/Persian reference, if you insist on being politically correct about it, I'll go with Persian and provide a photo reference:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image ... 8-2006.jpg