Character Thomas Barran

[Thomas Barran]

"I will either find a way or make one." - Hannibal Barca

Lord Thomas Barran
"The Flayed Blue Lion"
(829-864 ABY)
(874 ABY-...)

BIOGRAPHY (War)

"Never known a man t'be fearless, Milord. But there is a right, malleable kind of fear that drives me. Easy t'channel, so it is." - Lord-Leftenant Thomas Barran's last known saying, during the events of Ziost 2. (864 ABY)

The Imperial Free-State of Galidraan

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Firstborn son of Lord Erskine Barran's issue, mothered by Lady Carla Thrast-Barran, young Thomas had been destined for succession and greatness alike from the moment he was born; even expressing a will to wield a sword well like his legendary parents at the tender age of six years old, when he was caught chopping at an overturned oak tree with a blunted sparring-sword by a very proud Lady Carla, later becoming a fond moment to remember when every last member of the Barran Clan were forced into exile by Lord Erskine's rather secretive rivals in the Galidraani security-forces officers' clique. Being the older brother, it didn't take long before he fell in with the grunts, non-coms and the staffers of their Noble Exiles PMC, learning the nuts-and-bolts, the do's-and-don'ts, and all the little nuanced of military life at the behest of his father.

Being almost seven years older than Michael, the exiled Lord's rightful successor would see at least a few years of service with the Stormchaser's wandering-PMC before Lord Willan Tal's appeal to rally all exiled Galidraani to the Tiger's banner, and from there, the charismatic Northern-Galidraani warlord would buy out the young Half-Woad's commission soon after. After this, Lord Thomas would go on to serve on Oben, Hoth, in the Second Battle of Bastion; then on Helgard, after serving with exemplary conduct for over a year by then, Barran would be promoted to the rank of Lord-Leftenant whilst they were all en route to Archais. From there, the young Woad would go on to serve on Generis and Ziost, the latter being where it all went wrong for Thomas and many others like him.

A day that would mark the beginning of a truly dark journey - a different tale of war, death and rebirth.

Sent to defend the Lord-Protector's legacy in the making, Thomas Barran would die en route to providing relief efforts for Enedina Tal's Spec-Ops contingent, with his small platoon of riflemen from the Fighting First wiped out completely by the Sith Empire's Orbital Bombardment in their act of defensive desperation. The unfortunate ones, though they had either died quickly or in screaming agony, would never expect the anguish, fear and suffering that awaited their departed souls, souls destined for another afterlife - but ending up in the nightmarish, ultraviolent Netherworld instead. Men who wished for a peaceful death, a peaceful place to go to in the end; denied, and by a Galaxy's eternal who knew not where to send these brave warriors' souls, slighted by fate when such powers were clueless of their underlying faith in the Goidelic Dia, or Galidraan's Alwealda respectively.

BIOGRAPHY (Death)

"McHugh.... Find your real ever-after, its obvious you have no place among my brothers here. I would not slay an old friend, I would not slay a fellow exile." - Thomas Barran's departed soul, speaking with the ghost of Commoner-Captain Bruenn,"Shugg" McHugh. (Roughly 865 ABY)

The Lost Brigade​

Darkness, shadow, and endless bare winter trees in what felt like an endless fog to the dead platoon to begin with, and dying endlessly to the beasts who lurked the fog. Feasting again and again and again on the same soldiers who rematerialized just as often, or at least for as long as the beasts remained hungry for whatever passed for flesh in these regions. But the men of the Firstborn's Platoon would rise to the occasion again, eventually, even after being broken many hundreds of times by the uncertainty of the fog itself; but when the Nether began to snow, the men of the North and Lord Thomas himself would thrive together in the cold where the monsters began to wilt and recoil when struck back by the dead Free-State soldiers. It was in this realisation that the nexus for the Lost Brigade occurred, and in these moments, the true legend of the Flayed Blue Lion would make it's first strides into momentum with equalling catalytic precision.

Finally.... FIIIIIIIIIINAAAAAAAAALLYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

Feels good to say that one three-syllable word, JUST THREE SYLLABLES IS ALL IT TAKES TO INSTIGATE FULL-BODY RUSHES ACROSS SKIN I KNOW I DON'T POSSESS!!!!

But here, it apparently does exist, and it hurts when the demons feast on it! This sure as fuck isn't Heaven, nor Hell - or Purgatory for that matter.... We need answers as to where, but first, WE FIND MORE OF OUR SLAIN IMPERIAL COMRADES FIRST!!!! THEN WE FIGHT OUR WAY TO THE ANSWERS WE SEEK!!!!


*MARBH GED A DH'FHAODADH SINN A BHITH, DIATHAN THIG SINN!!!!
**DEAD THOUGH WE MAY BE, GODS WE WILL BECOME!!!!​

A rallying cry his men misunderstood until what felt like decades later, when their ranks began to swell with Goidels who were killed in action on Serenno, translating the phrase and giving context through the original saying the phrase had been lent from,"Truaghan ged a dh'fhaodadh sinn a bhith, Rìghrean bidh sinn.", which roughly translated to,"Paupers though we may be, Kings we will become.", a saying from recent Goidelic centuries, times when the Fortans conscripted Woad, Highlander and Tuath alike into Galactic military service. Rephrased to suit their predicament in death, and to state his intent, like any Barran would; regardless of whether they were living, comatose or dead for that matter, that Woad blood in them would never take the next phases of their souls' journeys lying down, not even when there's no chance of winning in the early stages of their struggle.

The Bloodline of Chieftains would rail against their tormentors in death like it was any other menace in the living, tangible Galaxy that killed them, and it appeared more and more over time as if Lord Erskine's deceased firstborn was to be no exception to this. However, something else began to intensify this, but it had to occur under the conditions of severe duress, and yield all the resolve necessary to fuel this rebellious will to a contrastingly-intensified extent - greatly contrasting the calmly contrarian, nobly dignified revolts of his ancestral majority in particular.

"Like wintry gale-force winds - they swept through the bare beech and oak we earned through toil, agony and a multitude of repeated deaths. The real menace of the Nether easily swept us aside, scattered across the forest with ease.... Like coastal autumn leaves, all of us were at the mercy of a hurricane!" - Guard-Sergeant Denny Rhone, formerly of Blue-Heart Brigade, referring to the first stages of the Lost Brigade's,"Second War of the Dead". (Roughly 868 ABY)​

What none knew at the time, not in the moments when the giants tore them limb from limb, and ate them like ripe apples in a well-tended orchard, like oranges in the most tempting of groves, gleefully feasting on the heads, torsos and limbs, crunching down on dead Imperial bones with nothing but satisfaction felt towards their victims - their prey.

BIOGRAPHY (Rebirth)

"All I know, all I remember of my afterlife? Agony, painted Red-Deer skulls, the stewed flesh of wicked men, giants an' monsters alike.... A Dark place is that which I only remember in nightmares, an' only one thing has been remembered of it since - my epithet." - Thomas Barran, in conversation with the Mongrel and his best Scar Hounds. (874 ABY)

The Brotherhood of the Maw

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The fight for the Nether would continue on, even in Thomas' absence if the need for it arose, for cracks and collective agreements to take their opportunities to escape if the openings were there to be exploited in the Lost Brigade's favour; and even after making headway in their fight for a reprieve from the giants, it was obvious to all serving the brigade, new and veteran presences alike, that there would be no winning the fight in the long run. With the intent to divide and conquer so they could scatter and feast on Barran's subordinates more easily, all the nearest realms in the Nether were beginning to rally against what they considered the new menace by then. And yet, the brigade had other plans for the Flayed Blue Lion, deciding soon after that they would use their biggest opening yet to hurl Thomas into one of the singularity-rifts first, tarnishing many chances of escape with just a single collective act of self-sacrifice. Fighting like dogs to keep a horde of monsters from hindering the Woad's escape, the Lost would make sure to endeavour a truly worthy last stand to endeavour, a task that would both ensure a safe exit and close the rift behind Thomas before any could reach it to chase him through time and space.

From there, it would seem the magic of the universe couldn't answer how the immaterial managed to find itself climbing out of the mud, and after being dead for almost ten years at that. Thomas has since taken steps to rediscovering who he was before, and (though with much less luck) who he was in the Nether - and whether time permits him enough leeway to learn it all hangs on how long the Flayed Blue Lion can survive in the living realms.

After all, the firstborn's previous run of luck against the Galaxy's odds haven't exactly helped his chances in this life either.

Barran remembers nothing from the first two stages of his soul's journey, nothing of his childhood or service with the Fighting First, not even his own name escaped the amnesiac effects of reanimation, so the Woad must rediscover at least some of what was lost in order to thrive in battle once more. Falling in with the Mongrel's very own tribe of Scar Hounds, it won't be long before Thomas is given a means of putting all the fractured puzzle-pieces together, a means of knowing what has become unknowable; and despite becoming a likely target for other Mawsworn warriors almost as soon as he remembers everything, there are still others within the Brotherhood who are keen to learn the truth as the Flayed Blue Lion's learning-process develops, including certain leadership-entities sitting atop the Maw's ultraviolent hierarchy. If the Lord-Commander of the Imperial Dead could survive threats both official and hidden alike, along with all the Maw's many enemies in the Galaxy, then perhaps the truth and Barran's thoughts on the matter might be brought out into the open for everyone's sake.

Time,
Time will be the real teller of this tale.

Time will dictate if Thomas Barran succeeds or not.

Thomas' Loadout
Protection/Equipment
Durasteel Brodie-Helm
Free-State Surplus Gas-Mask
2nd-Gen Galidraani SF Combat Webbing
Free-State Surplus Flak Jacket

Weaponry/Explosives
SA-35 Heavy Blaster Rifle
AP-25i "SIMP" Particle-Beam Blaster Pistol
Venom-Infused Durasteel Falx
Durasteel Fairbairn Dagger
X3 Incendiary Grenades
X2 Flashbangs

Traits
Hereditary Social-Magnetism
Practiced Intellect
Expert Silverist Swordsman
Hidden, Untapped Power
Hereditary Apathy Towards Weakness
Unnerving Presence
Painful Flashbacks
Raging Alcoholic/Drug-Addict

Attributes
Height: 195.5cm (6'4")
Weight: 202 lbs (91.6kg)
Eyes: Grey-Blue Irises
Hair: Greying Auburn
Age: 45 (Including Years Trapped in the Nether)
Midichlorian Count: Unknown​