Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the most notable members of Elpsis' posse. This will provide the basis for an eventual combat unit sub. Some of the characters described here may get individual NPC subs.
Image Credit: Here.
Permission: Permission for all ArmaTech gear and all other subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here and here.
Links: Adjudication, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Tephrike. Communion, The Long Road.
CREW INFORMATION
Crew Name: Champions of the Flame.
Crew Type: Comrades-in-Arms.
Base of Operations: The Forge. Operate out of a Frontier Class Corvette called the Emberdawn. They are quite mobile and thus not bound to a single area. These are places they tend to be based on.
Crew Size: Nine.
Loyalties: Firemane Industries, Order of Fire, Young Flames, Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, Inferno Platoon.
Description:
"You're here to join the Order of Fire. Some of you want to make a career out of it, others are here to learn skills you can pass on to your people when you return. Regardless of where you come from, as long as you're here, you're soldiers of the Order. The only distinction that matters is merit.
I've been assigned to train you. I'll be teaching you, leading you, fighting alongside you. If you're here for glory and shiny medals, go. If you think this will be an easy road, go. We don't need summer children anymore than gloryhounds. Not all you will make it. Some will realise this kind of life ain't for you during training and flunk out. Some of you will die in battle. Maybe even your first.
Some of you have seen war. You know what it is: hell, and that you must fight like hell to survive. Those of you who remain with us will become part of something bigger. Something with purpose. And when you're done you'll be masters of your own destiny. We'll remember those whose souls rejoin the Lifeweb - and avenge them. The road won't be pretty. It won't be easy. It'll be blood and iron. And it will be worth it. A blessing on the Young Flames." Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori greeting recruits.
Champions of the Flame is the self-bestowed of a group of soldiers and acolytes who form the core of a Young Flames platoon commanded by Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori. They are not the only members of the unit, but among the most noteworthy ones. The Young Flames are a paramilitary Force-Sensitive Group and cadet corps that provides training for Order of Fire recruits and young Force-Sensitives allied to Firemane.
According to their holonet page, the Young Flames inspire young people to harness the power of the Force in a productive, team-orientated way and embrace their talents. This is supposed to turn them into productive citizens who have the skills to build their own future, and are able to harmonise individual ambitions with the good of the community. It is also preparation for a career in Firemane and the Order.
After the Tephrike campaign, Elpsis was put in charge of one their platoons. It soon acquired the nickname Inferno Platoon. The Champions do not constitute the entire group that is under her command, but they represent its core and are one of its squads. The members of the Champions are racially diverse and have different motivations to be part of the group. Some want to pursue a career in the Order of Fire and become full-time employees of Firemane.
Others are here as part of what might be considered an exchange programme. These individuals belong to groups that are allied to Firemane and are spending some time with the group to learn new skills and provide services to the megacorp in return for aid it has rendered their people. The Order of Fire does not replace the native Force Orders in Firemane's sphere of influence, but it provides some light oversight and offers joint training programmes. As a rule, Firemane prefers indirect rule to direct dominance.
The divergent personalities can cause the members to clash and bicker as people tend to do, but they also complement each other. Regardless of their motivations, the Champions are one group. The Young Flames are a paramilitary organisation, so the Champions are organised as a military unit along the lines of a squad. They train, celebrate, fight and, should it come to that on the battlefield, die together. Outside of performing their duties, many of them will socialise and do things such as hit the clubs together, as young people tend to do. For the duration of their time together as a unit, they are subject to Firemane military law and treated as employees. Thus they receive a pay check and accommodation at Firemane bases. The Young Flames are based on the Arx, the space station that serves as Firemane's headquarters, but due to the nature of their work the Champions are quite mobile and go wherever their duties require them to.
Elpsis is the leader of the crew. She holds the rank of Lieutenant in Firemane's armed forces and is one of the Masters of the Order. She expects the members of the crew to follow her instructions because she is the most experienced and battle-hardened. However, she is no martinet. Within certain bounds, she is willing to tolerate a degree of backtalk and take the time to explain her decisions. She has no tolerance for cowardice, desertion or treason though.
Her motivation is to forge them into cohesive unit and do her best to ensure they make it through battle. The experience level of the Champions vary. Some are battle-hardened and/or have prior Force training, others are still novices. Aside from being educated about the Force, they are trained in small unit tactics, marksmanship, demolitions, melee combat, martial arts, first aid and so on. In battle they will be deployed as shock troopers and as commandos, often being utilised to achieve specific tactical objectives.
Ultimately, the Champions answer to Lieutenant Colonel Aerin Askari, an Eldorai Force Master and the leader of the Young Flames, and Brigadier Leonina Varkathras, a Cathar Force Master and the second in command of the Order. Since it is just a squad, there are obviously several levels in between them and the central command of the Order. A general officer will not micromanage a single squad or platoon, after all. That is what minions are for. Elpsis is responsible for their conduct, supervises training and leads them in the field. The crew has a symbol in form of two crossed swords wreathed in flames. They are issued suits of armour and uniforms by Firemane and utilise the arsenal available to Inferno Platoon. Depending on the situation, they may replace their standard battle armour with Spectre Scout Armour or add a no-show to make it more difficult for foes to detect them.
CREW MEMBER 1
Name: Lady Sano Tahoka. She likes being addressed as 'Lady'. Her comrades regularly refuse to oblige her, or do so in a mocking way.
Age: 21.
Species: Togruta.
Role: Duellist, allrounder. Midling markswoman/pilot.
Description: Sano does not need training. She is already a highly skilled warrior and defender of all that is good and right. She just deigns to keep the others around in order to show them how it is done. The Togruta is headstrong, stuck-up and certain that she is special in some way. This is partly the result of her upbringing. Sano's mother Wicasa Tahoka is very wealthy and a member of Firemane's ruling group. Indeed, she heads the treasury. Though born on Shili, she left the Togruta homeworld behind her decades ago and did not look back.Her daughter grew up wanting for nothing. However, she was mostly raised by governesses and servants. Young Sano received the best tutors money could procure. But a teacher she had grown close to had turned out to be a closeted Sith who wanted to manipulate the young neophyte. This motivated her mother to put her in the Order of Fire after getting involved with Firemane. Sano does not like to speak of this incident and tries to cover up any insecurity on her part with arrogance, but it has affected her more than she would like to admit.
The girl received a bit of a rude awakening because her new instructors are not impressed. Indeed, her first training session was a bit of a humiliation conga for her. Elpsis has decided to break her in and make a good soldier out of her. To her credit, Sano is skilled when she puts her mind to things and quite brave in the field. Beneath her somewhat prissy facade, Sano is insecure and determined to walk her own path. When given the choice between staying with the somewhat harsh Elpsis and getting a cushy bodyguard assignment guarding a Qadiri ruler, she chose the former. This was contrary to her mother's wishes, as she considered her present posting a dead-end assignment.
Wicasa would prefer it if her daughter did not idealise Togruta heroes such as Shaak Ti so much. After all, the stories only speak of the glory and the excitement, not the terror and carnage. Since getting some knocked into her, Sano has become less arrogant and more cooperative, though she is still a bit of a stuffed shirt. Rhea has a lot of book knowledge, but her practical experience is limited. Intellectually, she knows that war demands sacrifice and things are less black and white than the stories say, but she struggles with the question of how far is too far. Compared to some of the members of the group, she is rather idealistic. In that regard she resembles a younger Elpsis with a better life.
She is a Togruta, so the hollow spaces in her cranial horns, or montrals, aid her in clearly perceiving her surroundings. By gathering information ultrasonically, they allow her to speed up her movements faster and with greater accuracy. She is a fine duellist and received basic lightsabre training before being inducted into the Young Flames. Moreover, she is good at inspirational abilities such as Force Valour, making her a useful buff. But while she is big on theory, she is lacking in practical field experience. She has a preference for Form II, since it is a style most suitable for a refined lady of war like herself, but has branched out into the New Jedi Order Fast Style. Sano is quite generous with gifts and believes in noblesse oblige in a superficial way, but is a bit patronising about it. Thus one might get the impression that she is more motivated by a desire to be praised and noticed than altruism. It is probably a bit of both. This can cause tension with other members of the crew, particularly those who come from less privileged backgrounds.
CREW MEMBER 2
Name: Shikoba
Age: 52.
Species: Vashyada.
Role: Druid, support.
Description: When it comes to Force training, Shikoba is one of the most experienced members of the group. Trained by the priestesses and huntresses of her people, she is a capable druid. However, she is new to spaceflight and the many technological wonders that galactic civilisation takes for granted. Her people, the Vashyada, have a strong connection to nature and are skilled guerrilla fighters, but are a low tech race and thus comparatively primitive. Shikoba is one of the Vashyada who took the chance to see the stars after the wood elves signed a treaty with Firemane. Old style Vash are wary of the outside world and its temptations, especially filthy lucre, but she likes learning new things.
However, this also ties in with her past. The Netherworld Event affected virtually every world in the Galaxy in some way, and thus did not leave her people untouched. Shikoba was one of the Vashyada who were raptured. She does not speak a lot of this time, but the Netherworld left its mark on her and has given her a connection of sorts to the underworld and ghosts. Tylania, prophetess and Paragon of the Vashyada, helped guide her out of the Netherworld. Sometimes she is still pulled back into the Nether in her dreams. She has acquired an interest in the spirit realm that some of her peers consider inappropriate.
Shikoba approaches the Force from a shamanistic point of view, applying the teachings of her people. She has an inquisitive mind and a thirst for knowledge. Her inquisitiveness has caused murmurs among certain orthodox Vash about her straying too far from the path of orthodoxy, as she has taken an interest in fields that may be contrary to the path of the Light. It has been alleged that her family has taken an interest in the forbidden arts. She is xenophobic towards Xioquo due to the history of animosity between them and her people, as the drows often launched incursions to tryand enslave Vashyada.
Her connection to the Nether has manifested in a talent for spirit summoning, familiars and communing with ghosts. Shikoba has combat experience from fighting foreign incursions and facing the dangers of the Nether, but is more of a support player. Shikoba's credo is that death is not a pit, death is a door. She does not see it as the final end, but as another stage of the journey. She can see and communicate with dead people. This can be quite useful for investigations. Sometimes when she looks at an individual, she can see the spirits of those they have killed occasionally gathering around them.
In terms of personality, Shikoba is introverted and quiet. She can be a bit haughty in her interactions with others. She is not laconic, but not verbose when not discussing subjects of interest to her. Though curious about them, Shikoba finds several of the customs of the 'sky people' baffling. The Vashyada is not particularly fond of droids. Their minds are closed to her, so she cannot know what they are thinking. She acknowledges that the outsiders have superior technology, but also believes that their over-reliance on machinery enslaves them to it and erodes their connection to the spirits. Furthermore, she knows about plants, herbs and potions. She is good with a staff weapon, performs well in a support role and has an interest in sorcery. Shikoba has been trained as a healer, has very keen senses and strong precognitive abilities.
CREW MEMBER 3
Name: Reverence
Age: 20.
Species: Human.
Role: Close combat specialist, gunner.
Description: Reverence is a human woman from Dahomey, a world in the western rim that was once plagued by slavers, foreign colonialist oppression and endemic tribal warfare. It was liberated by an Omega Pyre task force led by Tegaea Alcori and Siobhan Kerrigan many years ago. Today it is a democratic republic governed by the natives, though the Firemane ruling couple has a lot of clout on the planet.
Reverence is a member of the Mandla, a Dahomian tribe that made a name for itself fighting the imperialists and slavers. She is distant kin to Tempest, an officer in Firemane's armed forces and the first apprentice of Siobhan. Reverence was very young when all this happened. As a result, she did not fight in any battles and does not remember much. However, she was raised on stories about the Dahomian Amazons, the patriotic struggle against oppressors and with a strong communal spirit. This has left a lasting impression on her, shaping her morals and her outlook on the world.
Many of her kin have worked for Firemane as soldiers, officers and administrators. While the Dahomians have their own Force traditions, which tend to be shamanistic in nature, she has been sent to the Order to get better control of her abilities. Reverence is still quite idealistic and wants to emulate the warriors who fought for the freedom of her people. Time will put these notions to the test. At present she is a contrast to the more cynical members of the crew and helps keep them focused on the mission instead of personal vendettas.
One of her siblings, a female Firemane soldier called Loyalty, fought in the Tephrike campaign and got a medal for her bravery under fire. She was part of the Firemane delegation that was ambushed by extremists in the Dominion of Light, and later participated in the search for Elpsis and the Fire Princess' eventual rescue. Reverence is close to her, and Loyalty's example inspired her to enlist. Reverence is quite enthusiastic, almost to the point of being a jokester. Her close attachment to Sienn means she works best with her. She likes to get in close to combat and defends her 'sisters' in the unit's honour. She is quite strong and fond of showing this off. Aside from standard rifles, her strength makes her good at using repeating blasters, shotguns, bolters and similar weapons.
Reverence is close friends with Sienn, a Twi'lek from Arkas and fellow member of the group. They originally met on Arkas when Reverence was doing work for Firedawn. When they joined the Young Flames, both were happy about ending up in the same unit. When it comes to Force use, Reverence is more someone who focuses on the fundamentals rather than having an esoteric skill set. Her focus lies in physical augmentation and buffing abilities, such as Force Body, Control Pain etc.
CREW MEMBER 4
Name: Sienn Bondara
Age: 19.
Species: Twi'lek.
Role: Stealth, marksmanship, tech support.
Description: Sienn is a Twi'lek from Arkas, a planet characterised by tropical islands, oceans and volcanoes. Cut off when the Galaxy was ravaged by the Gulag Virus, it fell under the control of rival groups of corsairs, who enslaved the original settlers. Groups of natives managed to flee into the wilderness and fight back, but remained unable to topple the slavers due to the latter possessing superior technology. The corsairs were overthrown when Firemane and the Eldorai came across the planet. Subsequently the planet was placed under Firemane protection, and turned into a haven for refugees such as Eldorai Forsaken. The megacorp has set up a base on the planet and initiated social programmes to help emancipated slaves. Sienn is the bastard daughter of a corsair and one of his house slaves.
The status of the child followed that of her mother, so she was still enslaved. Being the personal slave of a corsair go her mother out of toiling in the fields or salt mines and earned her some favoured treatment, but she remained unfree. When Sienn's father was murdered in a dispute between rival corsairs, her circumstances deteriorated. The pair got a new owner. After learning that her child was going to be sold, Sienn's mother organised an escape with the help of a bribed guard.
They eventually came across outlaws. However, the rogues saw Sienn's mother as a 'collaborator' due to her past association with a corsair. Nonetheless, Sienn's mother fell in with them. She was able to emerge from the wilderness when Firemane crushed the pirates. However, her mother had perished from disease. The orphaned Sienn has partly been raised in a Firemane institution and received an education sponsored by Firedawn, the megacorp's freemen bureau.
Her Force talents had unconsciously manifested during her childhood, as they often do in untrained Force-Sensitives. A standard test revealed that she was a Force-User. This was her entry ticket into the Order and, so she hopes, a life of greater significance and an escape from the poverty she used to live in. Sienn is friends with Reverence. Both are close and often hang out together. In comparison to the Dahomian, Sienn is a bit more reserved due to what she's been through. She opens up with friends and those she trusts.
The Twi'lek is good at stealth, especially at concealing her aura and presence from detection, and quick. She has some skill with machinery and salvage, being able to scavenge pieces of tech and getting them back working again. These self-taught skills helped her survive on Arkas because she could barter items for food, water and medical supplies. However, since she is largely self-taught, the results can be a bit variable.
CREW MEMBER 5
Name: Celaena Eilris
Age: 51.
Species: Eldorai. Eldorai age at a slower pace than humans. They become physically mature around the age of 30, and fully develop around the age of 50.
Role: Assault. Elementalist.
Description: Celaena is an Eldorai and one of the Forsaken. When the Eldorai learned that Kaeshana was doomed to be destroyed by an enormous asteroid, they worked with Firemane to evacuate as many of their people as possible before the calamity. Most of the Eldorai could be evacuated in time, but some had to be left behind. Firemane was able to mitigate the impact by destroying a huge chunk of the asteroid, but it was still cataclysmic.
The Eldorai who had been left behind called themselves the Forsaken. They cursed the exodites and the humans who had, in their view, abandoned them and had to fight to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that had been thrown into an impact winter. Resources were scarce, violence endemic and the surviving communities had to protect themselves against raiders and pirates.
Celaena is one of the Forsaken. With her low class background, she lacked the means to get off-world. She ended up in a refugee camp. Gangs and warlords vied for power, and she fell in with one of the 'Dark Eldorai' factions. They ended up in opposition to the Shadow Knights, a militarist group of survivalists that sought to wrest some order from the chaos, but was perceived as tyrannical by her. She has combat experience from fighting in militias and irregulars.
During the Battle of Kaeshana, she and her people took up arms alongside Firemane and her estranged sistren, as she perceived the First Order to be a foreign invader. Forced to leave Kaeshana after her homeworld came under foreign occupation, she ended up on Arkas, where Forsaken refugees set up settlements for refugees. She elected to stay there rather than join the royalists on Tygara or one of the Eldorai nomad groups like the Shadows or the Aspirants.
Celaena is bitter and cynical beyond her years. She had to rely on herself from early on and is fiercely independent. Her past experiences have made her distrustful of big governments and authorities. This makes her decision to join the group a bit odd, but Firemane provides protection for her people. She does not like them, and indeed has not forgiven them, but she is practical about it. The Eldorai is pretty bitter and reserved. Like Shikoba, she has no patience for those who cannot look after themselves. She uses her native language wherever she can, giving humans who can understand it a modicum more respect. However, humans and other aliens who can fight or are shown to have helped her people she would get along with.
Celaena feels strong resentment for those from more privileged backgrounds, and gets on poorly with Sano. Despite her cynicism, Celaena is spiritual, but rejects the orthodox Church of Ashira. Instead she is an Arrynist, a member of a sect that believes Ashira was the embodiment of the divine force given Eldorai form, with a mortal body and a divine will. It is considered heretical by the mainstream Church. Life in the blasted wasteland of Kaeshana was not easy, so Celaena is quite tough, especially for an Eldorai. She has well-honed survival and scavenging skills. Like Elpsis, she has a strong affinity for elemental fire abilities, enabling her to burn, blast or blind opponents or cook them inside their armour. In that regard, she is Elpsis' understudy, though she would resent the term. Her fire powers also make her good at keeping herself warm in cold climates, allows her to cook without an oven and create light to illuminate dark areas.
CREW MEMBER 6
Name: Vagt Bwi'kat
Age: 29.
Species: Bothan.
Role: Heavy weapons specialist.
Description: Everyone expects the Bothan to be the slicer, spy or the (often corrupt) politician. Vagt dislikes the stereotype. Instead he prefers relying on superior firepower, such as that provided by a grenade launcher or a flamer. He decided from early on that he had other interests than the political machinations that are so crucial to the 'Bothan Way'.
Instead he has dedicated himself to martial pursuits and is now a career soldier with Firemane. One of his heroes is Admiral Nek Bwuat'tu, a Bothan flag officer who served the first Galactic Alliance centuries ago. Vagt has a stocky build and is quite strong, enabling him to use heavy weapons and contend in melee combat despite being on the short side. He favours reach weapons such as polearms in melee, as these allow him to compensate for being short in stature. In addition, he is also a solid gunner, manning the guns on a ship.
The Bothan is unique among the members of the crew due to being the only Non-Force-User. Moreover, he is not a trainee. He has been assigned to the group both due to his skill with heavy weapons and his expertise in small unit leadership. Elpsis, while a powerful Force Master with immense personal combat experience, is new to command. In keeping with the Order of Fire's usual policy, Vagt has been assigned to her as a non-commissioned officer to help out on such matters. This is supposed to help prevent Battle of Geonosis style death charging and the resulting waste of resources.
Vagt is self-confident enough to stand up to a powerful pyrokinetic and not be awed by space mages. The Bothan soldier is serious, mission-minded and direct in his approach. He is rather stoic, harsh and deeply pragmatic. Ironically, his pragmatism and the fact that he is not too fazed about casualties are traits he shares with the culture he dislikes, but he has strong rules against deliberately inflicting harm on civilians. He is very by the book, a bit gruff and has strict views on insubordination. He is fond of using statistics. Vagt welcomes a good challenge and advocates decisive military action. He does not believe in wasting assets, but has a sink or swim mentality when it comes to recruits.
CREW MEMBER 7
Name: Nuroch
Age: 19.
Species: Nautolan
Role: Illusionist.
Description: Nuroch was brought into the group due to his knack for getting into the heads of others. He has a talent for mind tricks, mental attacks as well as illusions. However, he is still young and quite hotheaded, manifesting an aggressive mentality in combat, though his skill set makes him better at hanging back and supporting his allies at range. Nuroch is very eager to develop his power and determined to master them. Being a Nautolan, he is a good swimmer and diver, and is able to breathe underwater. This makes him ideal for aquatic missions. Nuroch is from Tephrike, a planet that was isolated from the rest of the Galaxy by the outbreak of the Gulag Virus.
Centuries ago, his ancestors emigrated there from Gree Anselm, becoming part of the significant Nautolan community. Their descendants would eventually come to rue this decision, for the Four Hundred Year Darkness plunged the planet into chaos, poverty and apocalyptic strife. Nuroch grew up in the Dominion and was inducted into its Jedi Order as an infant. However, he was arrested for 'sedition', as he had been denounced after making critical remarks about the Dominion's leadership. He had also had a relationship with another Jedi. He was incarcerated in Serene Springs, a concentration camp the Jedi Inquisition used for political prisoners and supposed heretics.
There he was subjected to mental and physical abuse and had to perform forced labour, which left him with significant trauma he tries to suppress. It is also where Elpsis was brought to after she was captured by the Inquisition. His desire for control and security stems from these days. Nuroch participated in the prisoner rebellion that was sparked by the pyromancer. The prisoners were evacuated by Firemane after the megacorp's troops broke through the Dominion's defences.
He is very happy to be off the planet and stay away from that hellhole. He now wants to make a life for himself as a free man in the stars.This has caused friction with those among his fellow Tephriki exiles who want to one day return to topple the tyrants that enslaved them or at least rescue more of their people. One of them is Rhea, a student of Elpsis. Nuroch does not think much of these dreams, seeing them as naive since they want to go back to a planet that brought them only pain and try to fix it. Some of his compatriots have accused him of going native. Like many Tephriki, Nuroch is inexperienced with galactic standard technology and new to spaceflight, though he is catching up. He is the perfect sort of fellow to be really relieved he's off the hellhole of Tephrike. Therefore he takes every new experience - no matter how mundane - with gusto. He is still catching up with technology, but talks quite a bit now. Sometimes he shares a joke with Reverence. He is quite enthusiastic about all the cool tech the space people have.
CREW MEMBER 8
Name: Zhaleh Jai Bijana
Age: 41.
Species: Qadiri.
Role: Ice mage, markswoman.
Description: Zhahleh is the Qadiri word for dew or hoar frost. This makes it an appropriate name since she is one of the rare Qadiri ice and water shapers. Zhaleh is from a remote community in the icy north of Tygara, far from the great cities where most Qadiri live, but also away from the Underealm. There her people lived a life as fishers and hunters. Qadiri elementalists tend to be fire or air mages, but ice magic helped her people survive in the arctic conditions. She has a natural resistance to the cold. By contrast, she finds very hot climates uncomfortable. Moreover, she has a knack for stealth. In that regard, her elemental abilities come in handy as she can use them to lower her body temperatures, allowing her to elude heat scans and similar
Due to the remoteness of their tribal hunting grounds, they missed the initial first contact with the outsiders. However, when the sky people arrived Zhaleh bravely set off to offer welcome to them, coming to the rescue of a Firemane crew that had been stranded. Indeed, she rescued Firemane crew members from drowning. She later joined up to learn more. Her more 'civilised' Qadiri brethren to the south see her and her people as 'rustic'. In some ways, they have more in common with the Vashyada, though the wood elves are less nomadic.
The Xioquo were the perennial enemies of her people, and Zhaleh has a lot of experience fighting them. However, at other times her tribe had friendly dealings with Xioquo rebels who had fled to escape the tyranny of the ruling families. This means her view of the dark elves is less black and white than that of many of her fellow Qadiri or even that of most Vashyada. Many of the Xioquo have been bad, some of them have been good.
After the fall of the Underealm and the death of Mystra, a number of Xioquo who refused to give up the fight against the sky people fled to the north, seeking lost artefacts and abominations they believed could turn the tide. Zhaleh and her people ended up fighting them, and this shared experience helped bring her into Firemane's orbit. Zhaleh is a fine huntress and fisher, able to easily spear fish and even has experience hunting whales. She is a bit shy to newcomers, but quickly warm up to them. She is a bit socially awkward but tries hard. She has a habit of assigning names to her weapons.
CREW MEMBER 9
Name: Rhea
Age: 19
Species: Rattataki.
Role: Assault. Stealth. Corporal.
Description: Rhea is another survivor of Tephrike's brutal internecine strife. Born in an agricultural collective run by the Dominion, she experienced hardship from a young age. The Dominion was a tyrannical government and the peasants were exploited by the ruling cabal. Their failed collectivist policies led to famine. Her parents were murdered by the Vaderites, a faction of Vader-worshipping human supremacists. Their only crime was being Rattataki. Rhea was supposed to be murdered to, but managed to survive the massacre because her mother fell on her to shield her. She survived in the only way that possible in that situation: by pretending to be dead. She bore the weight of Stormtroopers walking across her body while they looked for and shot survivors, remaining motionless. Perhaps this was an unconscious manifestation of her talent for body control. When she struggled to breathe, she instinctively drew upon the Force.
Rhea hid in the forest. She was almost feral when the Dominion found her. She was drafted into the labour corps, but inducted into the Windian Jedi Order after her Force powers were discovered. There she was indoctrinated. It gave her a chance of revenge against the Sith, but she also suffered discrimination due to not being a clone raised in a Dominion institution. The Grand Inquisitor Antonius took an interest in her, seeing her as a useful tool. He promised her justice, but actually turned her into his living weapon and slave. He was a cruel, manipulative man. Rhea looks back at this time with shame. She made an escape attempt, but was caught and broken in one of the Inquisition's brainwashing camps.
The Grand Inquisitor almost succeeded in doing the same with Elpsis. However, she broke her conditioning at the last moment and killed him. Rhea sided with the sky woman, turning on the Inquisition and the Dominion. Now she has followed her into the stars, though she intends to come back to Tephrike. Rhea is a troubled, disturbed individual with a lot of anger in her. She hates Sith, but is also prejudiced against Jedi because the Dominion ones are the only ones she knows.
There is a sense of helplessness to her, a sense of shame for allowing herself to be manipulated and controlled. This results in a fear that it might happen again and an anger which manifests in trying to prevent it. Rhea is suspicious of others and slow to trust. Rhea chooses not to use her very good looks to seduce others to get information or gain and advantage, choosing to conceal herself where possible with heavy clothing. She is introverted, but observant.
Rhea is devoted to Elpsis, but does not extend this to Firemane as an institution. She has formed an unlikely friendship with Nyssa Vykaris. This might seem strange at first since Nyssa is a practicing Sith who believes in Pureblood supremacy. However, Purebloods are all but unknown on Tephrike, where being a Sith is mostly identified with being a human supremacist space wizard. Moreover, Nyssa hates most other Sith. Moreover, Nyssa is direct and does not lie, which Rhea appreciates. However, Rhea is also a supporter of the direct democracy her fellow refugees, the Unchained, have implemented. She sees freedom as a valuable good that must be defended with blood.
Rhea's combat tactics are a mixture of stealth and frenzied offence. She is the sneaky type who uses her stealthy skills to evade detection and get close to the enemy. However, once she is in range she transitions into a brutal, rage-filled offence. Thus her tactics represent a hybrid of assassin and berserker, with some of their strengths, but also their weaknesses.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Champions of the Flame are a fairly young group, as they came into being shortly after the events of the Tephrike campaign. Thus their still brief history is closely tied to Elpsis. Firemane's Exploration Corps had set out on a mission to discover worlds that had been cut off from the rest of the Galaxy while it was being ravaged by the Gulag Virus. The goal was to find new trading partners, help them reconnect with the Galaxy and expand Firemane's influence.
When Firemane came across Tephrike, they made first contact with the Dominion of Light, a totalitarian, Jedi-led theocracy that ruled most of the planet. While initial contact was hostile, the Dominion agreed to negotiate and seemed willing to pursue the path of accommodation. Unaware of just how bad things were, Firemane sent a delegation to the Dominion's capital. Acting against orders due to a premonition, Elpsis joined the security detail. Unfortunately, an extremist faction in the Dominion's government decided to sabotage the talks, viewing the outsiders as Sithspawn demons. The delegates were attacked by Dominion fanatics. Nearby Dominion soldiers, believing their people were under attack, joined in.
Elpsis tried to pull off a rear guard action and ended up staying behind to cover the retreat. Though she fought valiantly, she was taken down by Dominion Inquisitors and imprisoned in a concentration camp. There she was subjected to torture as well as brainwashing in order to mould her into one of their drones. She was able to overcome her brainwashing and slay her tormentors, sparking a revolt that ended with the camp being put to the torch.
In the meantime, Firemane had declared war on the Dominion and conducted a brief but intense campaign in the air and on the ground. To this end it allied with the Republican Guard, a rebel faction that opposed the Force theocracies. In the end a major Dominion fortress fell to their combined forces, the Jedi Temple was levelled and the Grandmaster of the Dominion was assassinated by his own Councillors. However, the Dominion reorganised under a new, saner government that vowed to continue the war effort. Unwilling to get bogged down in a war far from home and with an unwieldy ally, Firemane contended itself with having giving the enemy a bloody nose. It withdrew its forces after signing trade deals with the rebels, promising arms and medical supplies in return for resources, as the planet was rich in ores.
Elpsis had been saved, but the experience left her deeply scarred both mentally and physically. She was also a lot more goal-orientated and interested in pursuing leadership roles she had once eschewed. As part of her efforts to perform damage control, Siobhan commissioned a movie that extolled her daughter as a Firemane heroine, despite being privately critical of her. Elpsis really disliked the way she was being whitewashed. After being cleared for active duty again, she was put in command of one of the Young Flames' platoons, making her responsible for a mixed group of recruits. Some intended to pursue a career with Firemane, others were here for what amounted to an exchange programme. She enlisted her comrades Nyssa Vykaris, a Red Sith Warrior, and Natalie Dorne, a spy and terrorist from Ession, to help her set things up.
One of the friends she had made on Tephrike, a Jedi Inquisitor called Rhea, joined the group. The Rattataki had suffered at the hands of both the Sith and the Dominion. The former had butchered her parents for the crime of being non-human, while in the case of the latter the Grand Inquisitor had maltreated her and used her as his living weapon and puppet. He had also been responsible for Elpsis' capture and brainwashing. Elpsis had slain him during her rampage, setting both herself and Rhea free. Elpsis started training her on an ad hoc basis during the journey back to Firemane headquarters.
The platoon she was responsible for assembled on Arkas, a remote, tropical planet within the Firemane sphere of influence. There the recruits met their new leader and with the help of her companions she put them through a series of drills, including forced marches, live fire exercises and a mock battle with droids, where they were paired up and had to work together to overcome mechanical foes in melee and ranged combat. During the live fire exercise the students had to deal with stun traps that would be triggered if they lingered too long in an area, forcing them to move just as their targets did. Auto-turrets firing stun rounds and sonic projectors also harassed them.
Aside from Rhea, a small group of trainees stuck out among the platoon. These were Sienn Bondara, a Twi'lek from Arkas, Reverence, a Dahomian from the Mandla tribe, a Vashyada druidess called Shikoba, an upper class Togruta called Sano Tahoka, and an Eldorai Forsaken by the name of Celaena Eilris. Shikoba was the most experienced Force-User of the group, but new to modern technology.
Sienn and Reverence had some good teamwork going, but the Dahomian seemed too idealistic and noble. Sano was skilled on a technical level, but pompous and thought herself greater than she actually was. Rhea had displayed initiative and leadership during the fight with the droids, but struggled to control her anger. Celaena was cantankerous and bitter, but Elpsis liked the fact that she was not afraid to speak her mind and she was a good pyromancer.
Thus she decided to group them together in one squad. Ideally they would learn something and be a good core for the group. Later a Tephriki Nautolan called Nuroch and an ice Qadiri by the name of Zhaleh joined the crew. Vagt, a Bothan soldier, was assigned to help out with training. The squad was put through several harsh drills in order to turn them into a more cohesive unit, teach them teamwork and small unit tactics. Elpsis is less sink or swim than Siobhan, but not soft at all. Eventually the Order started sending them on missions under Elpsis' leadership. As part of Inferno Platoon, the Champions have been deployed to the Forge. This space station serves as a combination of boot camp and patrolling station that patrols the 'frontier'. The trainees have seen action against First Order Remnant groups in the far rim, fighting slavers and warlords.
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