Name: Heht-Plord Xu`Thrang (his current, Banished title)
Alternate Name: Ollie
Codename: Warfang
Age: Young Adult (late 80's for his species, 21 in Human terms)
Date of Birth: His Birthing Creche was decanted in the Terran equivalent of Early February
Height: 6'8
Weight: 544
Fur/Pelt: Dark Pine Green, white streaks
Eye Color: Glittering, Bright golden
Place of Origin: Thrungular-Gren (a Heavy-Gravity Exo-Planet in the Sirius system)
Nationality/Race: Thrungulonian <Rexalian (singular: Rexal) subspecies>
Classification/Origin of Powers: Banished Alien-Mutant
Status: Political Refugee
Occupation: Warrior/Wanderer/Nobleman/Mercenary.
Personality Profile: Sarcastic, but generally genial, even too amiable at times. When he's not stomping someone or something. Xu`Thrang has come a long way from his taciturn, sullen days on Thrungular, as a psionic-run. He doesn't take to accepting dangerous nonsense, but a good joke and a sense of humor is always appreciated.
Physical Description:
Xu`Thrang (True Form):
Xu`Thrang (Human-ish Appearance):
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General Power Information: Psionic, Thaumivoristic, Heavy-Worlder Alien-Mutant
(Mutant) Heavy-Worlder: Thrungular-Gren is a cold, massive exo-planet in the Siris system, and the Rexal species was designed and bred to be large and hardy, powerful warriors, even under the extreme gravitational forces. Each one (somewhat ironically) resembles nothing so much as a heavy-set, muscular anthropomorphic, generally plantigrade canid, with only a few subspecies or breeds notable. All of which sporting variations of camouflage fur running the gamut from white, to black, to green with various shades and splotches in between. High-Plord Xu`Thrang, in this regard, is mostly not an acception here, except for his raw statistics. Resembling what, on earth, would be called a an American Pit-Bull Terrier (who is also mostly pine green pelted) in cast, he is an obvious anomaly, standing well over a head taller then most of his caste, with a hyper-muscular build that enables him to lift and manipulate up to 50 tons of weight (as opposed to the 30, common to others of his caste), and tough bones sinews skin and fur, that makes him resistant to most terran military medium and heavy weaponry. Unlike his people, Xu`Thrang is digitigrade. As Thrangular is a cold planet, his fur makes him resistant to the same. As he is a canid, his senses are far more sharper then that of a standard-issue human, with the addition of full-color perfect vision. As a canid, he comes with sharp-teeth, fangs, and claws (his are oddly retractable, which is damn freakish for his people). His size and strength marked him as a genetic anomaly to his people, and this would not normally have been tolerated, except for the prestigious Rank of his sire.
Physical Psionic Mastery: All of the Rexal species possess a minor variety of Psionic abilities, mostly concerning sensory and sensitivity effects, like telepathy, Psychometry or Aura-reading, to name a few. On rare occasion, a few Rexal either learned or where born with abilities of Psychic Healing, which was tolerated, because every unit of Rexalians, be they warriors or soldiers, needed a healer. But Xu`Thrang was, once again, an exception. He was born with full colour Aura reading, which was deemed... adequate, but no other classical Psionic abilities, standard to his species. Marked as a psychic 'runt', he later developed Physical Psionic abilities that where (unironically) alien to his people. All these factors have marked him as a genetic anomaly to his people, and thus his existence would not normally have been tolerated, except for the prestigious Rank of his sire:
--Aura Reading: This is an ability carried by all of the Rexal Species. They can, when the ability is purposefully activated, notice abnormal states such as the presence of magical, psionc, and assorted spiritual activities. They have a limited sort of danger-sense, and can notice demons, ghosts, and mystic or psionic creatures, and follow their psychic trail, if desired. Xu`Thrang is not as proficient at this, unlike most of his species (except when it comes to sensing present danger to himself and packmates, at which he is king)... but he does okay.
--Bio-Regeneration: Xu`Thrang can heal himself of injuries, and maiming, even non-lethal dismemberment, or non-immediately-lethal organ damage. Provided he is both awake, and his will is currently not depleted. It is NOT automatic.
--Psychic Disguise: Xu`Thrang can manipulate his flesh, skeletal structure, and hair/fur to enable him to resemble other variant humanoid life-forms of relatively similar size, build and height. This is a conscious but easily held ability. Still, he can't maintain it forever, as if it was an actual Mutant power.
--Psychokinesis: Xu`Thrang to manipulate several objects with his mind, totalling up to a maximum weight of one tonne. His native sense of awareness and space, while not a psychic ability, themselves, were also uncannily high. Enabling him to notice, and manipulate things behind him.
Psycho-Thaumic Resistance: All of the Rexal Species possesses a mixed and unremarkable degree of resistance to both Magic and Psionic effects: the former literally being genetically bred into them, and the latter being native to the species, improved by constant mental exercise. Xu`Thrang is like that as well... only more. His Psychic resistance was very impressive, and he stymied the attempts of even the greatest Psychics of the Sirius star system to overwhelm, control, or read him. By comparison, while residual Psychic effects such as Electrokinesis and Pyrokinesis could still hit him, their effectiveness was heavily reduced. The same, unusually, could be said for Magic (Thaumic-based) effects, only more so. Xu`Thrang was effectively immune to such things, and had a scarily good ability to sense, detect, and hunt down magical creatures and energies. Some of his people where, of course, disturbed by his prowess and resistance, but -this- mutation was ultimately overlooked, or heavily utilized in various offensives, because the Rexal, as a rule, truly despise Magic users.
Drawbacks & Weaknesses: The Perils of being a Stray Canid, in a Strange Land...
Alien Biology: While Plord is an organic entity, his organs, humors, and circulatory fluids are similar but clearly not the same as those found on earth. This means that he is -incredibly- difficult to heal, by the human-based normal or hyper scientific medical means. If he is ever in mortal peril and in need of medical attention, there is a good chance that Terran medical facilities will make it worse.
Code of Honor: Plord is a scion of a principal noble family on the War-Council, that dominates the lion's share of governance of his home system. Bred and born to be a noble warrior of his people, he carries a deep well of pride, and a code of honor that drives him to endure and to carry on some of the tenants of his people, even though he has been officially sanctioned as 'unfit' and summerily banished. More of the same came about, as he took on mercenary gigs while flitting about the cosmos: the code of a -reputable- mercenary (as opposed to more ruthless and savage headhunters), giving him a clear set of limits for how he should act, respond, and react in most circumstances... even in ones where the situation doesn't exactly translate to his training. Honorable to a fault, he will do what he says he means to do and hold his word, or die trying. This also means that he will go out of his way to save a life, and is rather opposed to taking one without a damn good reason.
Dense: No. Seriously. Xu`Thrang is, physically -super- dense, tending to be at least twice as heavy as a person of his apparent height and build should be... and he is -not- a small or average-sized creature of his species. Swing or tow-lines need to be reinforced for his weight, he sinks like a bowling ball, under most circumstances, in water, without vigorous effort on his part to stay afloat and swim.
Distinctive Odor: Xu`Thrang constantly gives off a notable but not necessarily unpleasant scent of cooking cinnamon-apples. This is a pervasive effect no matter what form he's wearing, or scheme he's using, and those who are in the know, or are especially wary will likely notice that something is different, if he is in disguise. Old Spice cannot help his tasty tasty scent, and feral or wild-types can easily track him by this odor. All jokes about wet or burnt dog hair are also on the table.
(Extremely) Limited Gear & Resources: When Xu`Thrang's escape pod crashed into the Lynn Woods Reservation, it broke apart during atmospheric entry (as designed), and subsequent shooting by American Jet missiles. This left him stranded with no resources, except the remains of his splash-down suit, and what he could fashion from it's remains: two home-made long knives made from Thrungular-bourne Hyperspace-Travel worthy metal, and the crumpled remains of his ambercite psy-translator gem.
It's Not Easy Being Green: Xu`Thrang is always green, no matter what his shape, or his use of his Psychic Disguise ability. In fact, it's often a dead give-away, unless he is also masked, further disguised, or operating at night.
Mystical/Psionic Beacon: Due to Xu`Thrang's heavy mystic/psionic resistance, he is indirectly detectable by Psionic and Thaumic radar-like scans, by the fact that he shows up as a big black hole. It is like waving a huge sign that reads 'Nothing to See Here', and is very, VERY, obvious, as the sensation effectively eats the mystic energies used in the scanning. Often unprepared Magic or Psionic users are alerted to his presence, not because they see him, but because they see a Xu`Thrang shaped hole and also get a minor headache for looking at it for too long.
No Papers: As an alien refugee, Xu`Thrang has no local, much less global, records like a social security number, license, birth-certificate, or credit rating. There is no information on him or his people.
Political Refuge (Thrungular-Gren): As a political refugee, Xu`Thrang isn't so much as 'wanted for criminal activities' by his former government, but instead 'swatted for expediency' whenever he encounters another Rexal. This has made his travel amongst the stars extremely hazardous for himself, and those around him, as any combat-worthy Rexal spaceship (note: all of them), will at least fire a few shots at any space-faring vessel he is in, just to make a point, or on general principles. This sort of negligent vindictiveness has pretty much made it so that the only people he can travel with, are other warriors, space-pirates, or mercenary companies, for safety's sake, and effectively left him stranded in Terran near-space, for now.
Relatively Strict Carnivore: Like most Canids, both Terran and Rexal, Xu`Thrang is 'theoretically' omnivorous, but does best on a diet high in animal proteins. His instinctive drive is to seek out or even hunt meat to dine upon, and the consumption of plant matter will have disastrous or hilarious results.
Uncontrolled Thaumivore: Xu`Thrang's Psycho-Thaumic resistance is uncontrolled, and always on, allowing only the free use of his own inherent Psychic abilities, and retarding his attempts to learn or grow more Psychic abilities. This Also makes diagnostic and beneficial spells and psychic powers effectively useless on him. Diagnostic or healing spells, or any other spell that directly targets him, tends to be -consumed- thanks to his thaumivoric nature. He can even drain magical devices on contact, or, inadvertently destroy them, if he holds on to them for too long.
Wanted (United States Gov't and Others): Xu`Thrang is a literal alien being, on Earth. All the standard tropes apply though as of yet, no government has actually seen more than a blurry forest-cam of him, in person, and do not know exactly what to look for. But they know that SOMETHING has landed in Lynn Shore Reservation, and since vacated the area, and are on the lookout for more alien strangeness. META has been called in. So being hunted down, and potentially vivisected is thus always a risk.
Skills: While technically only a young adult of his species (think 21 years of age), Xu`Thrang has garnered a lot of skills during this time, both in service to his home WarCouncil, and later as a star-fairing mercenary. He is an 80 year-old Noble Scion of a Space-Faring Militaristic Warrior-Culture, and his skills show this.
Blade Training (Energy/Standard): Xu`Thrang is good with a blade, any blade, and capable of dual-wielding blades if necessary.
Demolitions: Xu`Thrang know how to blow stuff up good, if he has a modicum of equipment and chemicals.
Diplomacy: Xu`Thrang knows how to realistically calm down, convince, lead, or generally just talk to people.
Drive (Military Land/Hover Vehicles): Despite the variations in design and function in land vehicles, military vehicles tend to be designed with similar forms because of their shared purposes. Because of this, Xu`Thrang can drive just about any militarized hover or land vehicle, provided it was built for a humanoid driver.
Firearms (Ballistic/Energy/Heavy): Xu`Thrang can use slug-thrower or energy technology when it comes to firearms, but he would rather usually use heavy man-portable weaponry, perferably the energy varieties. Still, he can dual-wield hand held firearms with ease.
Gravity-Trained: Xu`Thrang is trained in how to maneuver and operate in variable gravity settings, from Low-g worlds (like Earth, comparably), to heavy-G (with help, from planets bigger than his homeworld), to zero-G (space).
Linguistics/Lit: Thanks to his (now broken) psychic ambercite translator device, Xu`Thrang can read, speak, and write the following languages: InterGalc-Tradespeak (the common tongue for the various non-terran species who work and exist outside of the Sirius Solar System), Spanish, Sirius-Tradespeak, Quebecois French, Rexalian, English, and Canid- yes Xu`Thrang can speak and understand other canines or canine-like species... though those of animal intelligence don't generally have much to say.
Martial Arts: This is technically bundled with Military training. Xu`Thrang knows several different ways to severely mess someone up, via hand to hand (or hand to claw) combat.
Mechanics (Military): Xu`Thrang knows the general mechanical basics of how most military vehicles work. On the off chance he doesn't know it, he can figure it out.
Military Training: Xu`Thrang has military training and combat experience comparable to a US Green Beret.
Pilot (Air/Space-Military): Xu`Thrang can pilot and fight in military vehicles designed for aerial and space combat, provided that they where mostly designed for a humanoid pilot.
Psychology: Xu`Thrang cannot necessarily figure out how to cure a person of psychological problems, but he can psychologically assess, and even cold-read people (either singular or in groups), to 'figure them out.'
Repairs: Xu`Thrang can repair the mechanical devices that he has the training to use and/or operate.
Stealth: When needs be, despite being a Heavy-Worlder, Xu`Thrang can be an extremely sneaky bastard, hard to see and hard to hear, with the only real give-away to his presence being his particular odor (which is unmitigatable).
Survival (All): When outside of civilized locales, Xu`Thrang can survive and thrive. He can exist healthily in any environment, finding food water and shelter, and living off the land if necessary.
Background: The best way to understand Xu`Thrang is to understand the very beginnings and mentality of his species.
The various species, cultures, and peoples of the Sirius Solar System tend to share a common origin story, at least up to a point. They all generally agree that in the beginning, the various species (some now extinct) were created by the magical powers of a mysterious race of beings known only as 'the Keepers.' Unknown and unknowable, these mystic Keepers populated the star system with various species and beings, for various reasons, but generally with the understanding these beings would worship, entertain, and serve them, in perpetuity. It is here, of course, where the variation in creation legends begin to diverge.
Everyone generally understands, that eventually the Canine people, known collectively as the Rexalians, became severely dissatisfied with their lot in the grand scheme of things, but the two major takes on this, exist between Rexal people themselves, and the various worlds of the Arcane-Guild Combine as to whether or not this dissatisfaction was justified or not. The Rexalians considered this as slavery, and eventually revolted, plotting in silence for centuries before eventually unleashing an unheard of combination of mystic arts, psionic mastery, and scientific-technological know-how, to rest control of their destiny from the Keepers, either destroying them, or forcing them to flee to the 'Spaces between the Spaces' to avoid total annihilation.
But not everyone was happy with this new found freedom.
Fearful that the Rexalians would take over the reigns as the -new- masters of the Sirius Solar System, the other peoples of the System gathered together to form the Arcane-Guild Combine, and, wielding powerful magics, fought a near immediate war against the canids. Eventually scoring enough victories to strip the ability of the Rexalians to utilize the arcane arts in any way, away, and to banish them (rightly or wrongfully) to the frigid and massive exo-planet known as Thrungular-Gren. There, it was thought, the Rexalians would slowly perish and become extinct due to the harsh conditions there and the Rexalians’ constant internal strife.
And in fact, this almost succeeded. With the innate arcane abilities that were near universal to the other species and races throughout the solar system, millions of Rexalians died in the early confusion, and whole sub-cultures and sub-species of Rexalians perished (generally the smaller weaker ones)... But ultimately this hoped for extinction was not to be.
To the proud Rexalians, this was yet another betrayal. In the frosty heavy-gravity forces of their newfound hell-world, they became stronger, harder, and more war-like to survive, eventually coalescing into two similar but erstwhile philosophically different meta-cultures: the stoic and unified Soldiers (the forces of Claw), and the solitary but diffidently honorable Warrior Clans (the multitudinous, unrelentingly individualistic, but easily rallied Fangs). And while the two factions contested for centuries for the scarce resources of the planet, the conflict resulted in an arms race that made both sides stronger. Eventually after several decades of a slow cold war, the two sides found themselves on the cusp of being able to travel the highways of the star-system again, and possibly the galaxies beyond. Under the banner of Ral`Lupinmaw, the legendary wolf-like unifier, the two cultures were able to form a mutual government, based on the rule of an evenly split Council of 14. Thus unified, they where able to reach a post-scarcity level civilization without diluting their functional differences, and to focus on taking to the stars... and VENGEANCE.
After centuries of on-again-off-again peace, the peoples of the Arcane Guild Combine where -not- prepared for the sudden reappearance of the Rexalians, the later of whom launched a series of masterful strokes of pent up cold-fury against the people who had turned on them and banished them to die. Within the relative blink of an eye (a decade) the Rexalians managed to take, and hold, half the systems occupiable planets, through the use of their mastery of Psionics, Technology, and their bred-in resistance to all things Magical. Their weakness became their weapon, and they gleefully used it, to send the rest of the galaxy scrambling. Eventually, however, the Arcane Guild rallied just enough, to maintain control of their half of the system... and thus began the Long War. A war that might never end.
It was into this galaxy, three centuries later, that Xu`Thrang was decanted.
Muk-Plord Xu`Arris (aka Arsenal), was a member of the Plord elite caste, after a victorious run as a soldier proved that he would be a desirable member on the Rexalian WarCouncil. As a formality, after he was vetted and voted in (and, of course, he'd replaced an elder WarCouncil member in honorable lethal combat. Strictly a formality), he was called upon to donate his genetic material to the forging of a new generation of recruits. But in the deep freeze on the Thrungular-Gren 'Winter', something went wrong at the birthing creche. Of the hundred embryos that implanted in the artificial womb-forges of the birthing creche (female Rexalian's existed, but like the males, where generally to busy being soldiers or warriors to deal with being side-lined by live childbirth, though occasionally such things happened), only 14 survived to viability... and when it came time to decant the recruits, only Designate Xu`Thrang-Pumbra-XXXIX survived, and he was unquestionably 'differently' formed. A hasty but thorough Psi-Scan revealed that Xu`Thrang was a psionic runt, as well. A disastrous set-back for the Breeding Program. Xu`Arris was mortified by an unspoken sting of personally determined dishonor (for no one else would dare suggest or even hint that his bloodline was unfit to exist)... But rather than recycle the offspring for study of his genetics (to see what exactly went wrong), it was decided by the Breeding Program to rear him according to societal norms, to see what he could do.
Xu`Thrang did exceptionally well, growing big and strong as a youth, but was ever made aware that if he should fail to be a healthy unit of society before the age of fostering (roughly our equivalent to 12 years of age), he would, indeed, be recycled. It was a very stressful environment to be reared in, especially as the Breeding Program technicians, normally warm and affable members of either caste, knew he might 'vanish' one day, and simply decided not to get too attached to him. By the time of fostering it was clear that he was not a standard unit, but something... disturbingly... more (or perhaps less). Taller than other creche-batches of his age, and unquestionably stronger, he excelled in the observation sports, and in the various academic fields. This enabled him to survive, barely, because his Psionic abilities never manifested, except for the minimum mandatory ability to see supernatural auras. He pressed on in his studies of the same, however, as his raw power, his Psionic inner-strength, registered as remarkably high, to his Psionic-Studies Professors. He had the power, but not the ability, which struck them as fascinatingly odd, rather than a failure worthy of recycling the young 'psychic runt'.
When Xu`Thrang was in his early thirties (roughly the human equivalent of standard Rexalian adolescence), he began field-exercises with others of the same birth-year. It was expected by his superiors that this would solve the problem of his existence, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that (as the lone survivor of his creche) he would be foisted on an unfamiliar pack that was short a solo-unit, (the pre-existing pack, of course, would resent the imposition). The Rexelian field-exercises were, by necessity, brutal, and fatal 'accidents' were known to happen with irritating regularly. With Xu`Thrang being a psychic-runt, he was almost destined to die, or fail so spectacularly that he would be suitably slated for recycling.
So of course, Xu`Thrang survived... But it was not, by any means, easy.
Thanks to his extraordinarily rough (and unfair, even by Rexalian standards) training, as pre-Fosterling, Xu`Thrang excelled at the physical feats necessary to survive and thrive in the harsh field-exercise environment. Moreover, he was an asset and credit to his pack, making rough bounds amongst the unit, and helping the teams scoring. Resentment turned to affable affection ("He's not -the- Runt. He's OUR Runt," as the pack Alpha was quoted as saying). His Aura-sight based Dangersense saving the unit from many unnecessary (but typical) casualties, in the field. The Superiors where unsure what to think of this... and then his mutation manifested.
In the midst of a trial-by-fire exercise, were the pack was given orders to clear and hold a village of Iilurionion cat-folk, from hostiles, they inadvertently triggered an ambush. Xu`Thrang, running point, chimed in when his Dangersense activated, but was, for once, ignored as the Beta saw no immediate threat. In fact, they saw nothing at all... no villagers, or hostile soldiers of any sort, just signs of recent abandonment. And then the Alpha triggered a landmine and was obliterated, leaving nothing but red mist in his wake. The Beta froze in shock, as roughly two-dozen angered skull-faced Cyberlings opened fire upon them (a people of renown known for their mercenary ethic, and combination of, thaumically fueled cybernetics, and rampant hatred for all fleshy beings, a threat well above their league). As the pack panicked, Xu`Thrang grabbed the downed Alpha's plasma-rifle, and returned fire, sternly -suggesting- (he had no rank to issue orders) that the pack find cover. With the Beta paralyzed with shock (partly because he was liberally coated in the Alpha's remains, and partly from the landmine's secondary sonic effects assailing his senses), the pack did so.
Xu`Thrang attempted to join them, after turning two Cyberlings and a grove of trees into blazing pyre, but was cut of by the enemy's swiftly reforming forward formation. Outnumbered ten to one, Xu`Thrang was forced to fight a running/evading battle against superior forces, and was only able to escape by, circling around, and engaging the Cyberling commander (who was a veteran soldier herself, imbued with countless magical augments) who was otherwise alone. This was a distraction to buy the pack time. Even with the element of surprise, Xu`Thrang had no illusions that this enemy was well beyond his training and known capabilities. He unleashed plasma hellfire upon the commander's back, and charged in, hoping to give his pack a few precious moments to regroup by startling the commander just long enough to get within melee/hand-to-hand range... and instead, mid-charge, Xu`Thrang was immediately engulfed in a reactionary retaliatory mystic fireball.
At magically stoked temperatures that were hot enough to make titanium weep, this should have turned Xu`Thrang into a burnt-in shadow on the ground... but it didn't. While his uniform was ruined with burns and force-tears, and some of his fur was suitably singed, the damage was apparently 95% cosmetic. Not questioning his good fortune, Xu`Thrang surged forward and struck the commander to the ground. His still functioning war-cam recorded that he continued to press his advantage, beating the commander fatally, with repeated blows from the butt of his ruined plasma-cannon. While the war-cam could not assess exactly why this worked, as Cyberlings were known for their redundant mystic-shields and multi-effect damage canceling material armor, a report from a ResDev pack, afterwards, figured out that Xu`Thrang didn't so much as bypass all this, but instead ruined all these defenses, by absorbing and negating the thaumic energies, rendering the commanders defenses and mystic augments inert.
The death-throes of the commander were inadvertently heard over the open-coms of the rest of the Cyberlings, and threw their forces into disarray with panic. This gave the pack ample space to regroup, and rout their otherwise superior enemy, with standard tactics such as combined heavy arms fire on solo-targets. And also grenades. Facing a vigorous defense from a lethally refocused force before them, and being simultaneously attacked from behind, the Cyberlings fled the field with haste.
The dead Alpha was granted rank posthumously, the Beta was promoted, and Xu`Thrang, for bravery above and beyond the call of duty (after a -very- confused debriefing and psionic examination) was granted full military acknowledgement. This wasn't exactly as good as having Rank, by any standards, but otherwise marked him as a full military privileged member of society, worthy of choosing a caste when he came out of Fosterling, and no longer in need of worry that he might be summarily deemed recyclable, should he fail to meet and exceed standards... Or at least no more than any other accomplished Rexalian.
From that point on to the end of his Fostering, Xu`Thrang forded onward with an exemplary record of accomplishments which subsequently forced his superiors to reward him with advanced training, in various methods and arms of warfare. His eventual development of more unheard of Psychic abilities, that defied Rexalian classification, however, caused celebration amongst his peers (for his abilities, while different, were definitely useful, and thus appreciated), and concern amongst his superiors. Rexalian society, as a whole, was not set up to accommodate people with vastly different abilities, like Xu`Thrang's, and usually resulted in shunning by most. That his peers appreciated, or even -liked- him, was a disturbing disruption to the status quo... Xu`Thrang thus found himself frequently passed over for promotion or transfers throughout his Fostering. And of course, he was suitably frustrated, and even angered, by this. But he bucked up and took it until graduation, where he was allowed to finally choose his Caste as the lowliest of the lowest ranks of the martial society.
It was almost tradition (or possibly just genetics), that led graduates to settle into the Caste of their genetic progenitor, and so it was expected that Xu`Thrang would 'choose' to become a rank-and-file member of the national military, like his 'father'. And so his superiors struggled to figure out exactly where to place such a potentially valuable, but definitely 'disruptive' Soldier-to-be. They were still wrestling with this issue right up until the moment that Xu`Thrang survived his graduation from Fostering in the standard trial of ritual mortal combat (which he won handily), and then opted to become a Warrior instead. Xu`Thrang had learned damned well that if he wanted to get anywhere in society, he would have to do so under the harsher lifestyle, and often solitary existence of the same, where he would have more opportunities to see to his high ambitions -- based on his merits, than in an overarching hide-bound but manipulatable rulings from a superior officer, as a soldier.
At first his Fosterling superiors where momentarily relieved by this; now they wouldn't have to trouble themselves with find a 'safe' slot to shove Xu`Thrang into, within the vast machinations of the national military. Add to that equation, the fact that most Warrior-Caste Rexalians where solitary operators, despite being well-respected members of the Rexalian society; expected to do more, by themselves, for the growth of the Nation, than a soldier would be expected to. Warriors had no orders, no chain of command, just an obligation to fight and win for the Nation, exchanging the support and structure of the Soldier-Caste, for the greater freedoms therein. Consequently, they tended to die a lot, and this potential also please Xu`Thrangs superiors. But some were concerned... This unexpected choice was most unexpected and not-immediately explainable by the standard mentality of his people. Some were thus suitably worried, and one... was deeply, quietly, angered. Muk-Plord Xu`Arris, Xu`Thrang's sire, himself.
While lost birthing creches were a rare (but not freakish) occurrence, it was usually not considered a blemish on the gene-doner's record to have sired one. But, as was often the case, technicalities and reality often do not intertwine. Still, if no gene-fault was found on the part of the donor, the Sire or Dam might expect some mean-spirited humor at their expense, for a month or two (and perhaps a harder time making qualifications to receive permission to donate genes for children again), and then the whole matter would simply go away[/1]. The constant state of war the Rexalians where in would tolerate nothing less. However, in the entire painstakingly recorded history of the Rexalians, the failure of a creche -never- left any survivors, except just this once. In Xu`Arris' case. Thus everytime Xu`Thrang did anything unconventional, Xu`Arris would find himself constantly reminded, in subtle ways, by his peers (and even by the subordinate rank-and-file!) that his gene-seed must be, in some way, faulty. Xu`Thrang's very existence was the proverbial thorn in his side. And Xu`Arris [i]HATED this.
Xu`Thrang's Warrior training was as rough as one might reasonably expect. Nasty, brutish and short, the training focused less on combat techniques, maneuvers, and tactics, but on the raw focus and self-sufficiency necessary to operate outside the pack structure (an alien concept to most Rexalians), and alone. Like any new Warrior recruit, Xu`Thrang had a few false starts in this regard. However, as he'd been nominally 'alone' for most of his Fostering, he grasped the core concepts faster than most. Lacking a centralized chain-of-command structure, like the Soldiers possessed, he was then able to approach Elder Warriors (the most dangerous of the caste), for further advanced training. And as good Warriors were hard to come by, his Elders took him and his training seriously. He was a bit young when he was deemed 'worthy to probably not die in the field' but was definitely ready for his first solitary op, by the time he graduated (non-lethal combat, this time), was gifted with a 5 minute run through the armory and supply rooms for his gear, and summarily kicked out to find his own way forward. Which he did with rabid and rapt intensity... and a curious amount of steady patience and awareness.
Most young Warriors die fairly early in their careers, due to biting off more than they can chew from post graduate overconfidence. Xu`Thrang, however, had long since been aware of the mercurial nature of the battlefield, and had impressed upon him just how limited his abilities were. He picked out his jobs accordingly, after studying the situation thoroughly. This tendency for wariness led to him not getting many plum assignments, but it did increase his list of success rates and achievements, while also increasing his (low) chance of survival. Xu`Thrang grew in experience and renown, acquiring better equipment and treasure along the way. His rise began to gather a bemused following amongst the survivors, and the Elders, and thus he was alloted the greatest treasure of all- more training. By the time he was 70 (a Young Adult of his people), he was granted the rare social rank of Balf-Plord (roughly the American equivalent of a battlefield promotion to First Lieutenant), and given the option to begin training young potential Warriors himself. This option would have potentially boosted his renown, as he would accrue subsidiary influence from the successes of his surviving students... An option he reasonably declined with no loss of honor. Xu`Thrang much rather preferred being active, and out in the field.
Xu`Arris ground his teeth in quietly contained rage, as word of all this slowly percolated up and reached him. The running joke amongst his peers being that 'at least his defective gene-seed was good for something. And this sideways insult enraged him. Most especially because it was usually couched in a manner that avoided direct insult, and thus he couldn't challenge the speaker (if he ever caught them at it, which wasn't often), to direct and immediate mortal combat. In anger, he actively began to plot against Xu`Thrang, quietly tilting a greater degree of dangerous assignments to the Warrior Caste, whenever possible, knowing that eventually, his gene-seed recipient would have no choice but to take on near suicidal odds, in a given mission.
These behind-the-scenes machinations all were above Xu`Thrang's head, and unaware that someone of high social standing was trying to kill him, he continued his Warrior work. He did note, however, eventually, that the Warrior Caste was becoming somewhat destabilized. New Warriors were dying in droves, going for assignments they had no qualifications for, and even a few Elders were killed, as they were forced out of teaching retirement (in mixed-shape), to deal with deadlier threats. The power of an irate Muk-Plord was enough to strangle an entire Caste. Doing his due duty, Xu`Thrang took up deadlier assignments... and succeeded. A solitary terror on the battlefield, with a number of simply different psionic abilities, heavy training, superior equipment, while also being in the prime of his life, he took his attributes and became a nightmare to the Nation's foes. He was smart enough to leave few if any survivors, when he chose to act with any degree of violence, so enemy intel was simply lacking in how to deal with a threat that could take out their strongest Mystics, and leave no trace. Moreover, Xu`Thrang took training in asymmetrical warfare (a -rare- skill amongst his people, and one held with strong disdain), and developed an appropriate mentality of indirect-or-most-efficient combat. What targets he couldn't handle by direct combat or skilled ambush, he simply terrorized by blowing them up, and picking off the survivors. He took a hit to his social renown for this, of course, but Rexalians, while preferring direct engagement with their enemies, also really REALLY loved victory overall. Xu`Thrang was eventually given the rank of Baht-Plord (Captain), at an unheard of age (75), a rank that was about as high as one could get without getting into the lower echelons of Councilry... And that meant politics. This, however, was the goal Xu`Thrang had wanted all along, and, with the Warrior Caste suitably no-longer threatened, and redeemed, thanks to a few of the younger Warriors taking note and mimicking his method of warfare, he was content to coast in active duty for the rest of his life.
But this was not to be.
Xu`Arris was, of course, enraged at the utter failure of his plans and also at this promotion, but it never once occurred to him that this failure was due to his own misjudgments. He tore his private office to pieces in anger, and almost killed his adjutant before calming down enough to think things through. Sort of… For in all this failure there was still a chance to see his aims through. After all, thanks to his rise in rank, Xu`Thrang was now within easier direct reach of his progenitor. With blood still on his claws, Xu`Arris quickly summoned his subordinates, typed out a few direct orders, and called for his private warship. It was time to end the ‘shame’ his offspring had put upon Xu`Arris’ genetic-line, once and for all..
Xu`Thrang received notice of an unsourced Challenge, and reluctantly obeyed the summons to the circle, unsure of how he could have insulted anyone worthy of such an event. Utterly mystified, he met his challenger, a shorter, muscular Rexalian figure, Psyber-masked as was allowed by tradition, to prevent a Rexalian opponent from clandestinely reading his mind (an illegal maneuver, but one that was often hard to prove). The fight began the moment the judge sat down after proclaiming that this was a Direct Challenge, to the death, done over a grievous (but unstated offense)... and Even the judge was surprised at the ferocity with which the masked combatant launched at Xu`Thrang. The battle was almost won right then and there, as Xu`Arris went for the throat and vitals, but Xu`Thrang overcame his surprise, swiftly, and battled on grimly. What followed thereafter could only be described as a one sided face-stomping, as the stronger, faster, active-duty Xu`Thrang quickly and methodically broke the masked fighter down with singular focus. The masked warrior had attacked in anger, and overconfidence, expecting his ages of experience to overcome his younger opponent, and failing to grasp the reality of the situation, that he himself had spent over half a dozen cycles, sticking to merely moderate exercise and training to keep up only the skills of his age-group, without seeking any additional training. Xu`Thrang beat him down, and fatally claw-kicked his throat, then tore off the mask of the downed fighter... Only to reveal the face of a total stranger. Bemused he stepped back as his genetic donor gurgled and flailed... dying.
But this was not the end. Xu`Arris' intermediary immediately shoved a datapad into the judges hands and stated, "By our traditions and laws, the last edict of Muk-Plord Xu`Arris is to be carried out with all due haste." Xu`Thrang blinked, as he realized he'd just been challenged and proven victorious over a WarCouncil member.. one he must technically be related to somehow, and shuddered. He'd never met any of his relations before, and that was the norm for Rexalian society. Then the judge read the edict aloud. "Baht-Plord Xu`Thrang, as proven by his striking down of a member of the WarCouncil, that all charges against him are true. That he is a danger to the traditions of the Rexalian nation, and a vile influence upon the younger generations. He is thus deemed worthy of Banishment..."
Even the judge was confused by this... But legally, and traditionally these orders had to be carried out, as the recognized last edict of a WarCouncil member. Though usually such orders were made to avoid gaping absences and questions as to who was to succeed them, upon their expected demise. However, even without a second glance the obvious was true, that despite the legality of the challenge, Xu`Thrang had indeed killed a member of the WarCouncil... but... He was not given time to consider the question for long. Angered by the death of their superior officer, but not at all without standing orders to act, Xu`Arris' subordinates had previously summoned the local law-binders, and both groups leaped to, to lay hands upon Xu`Thrang. Some of which had been his peaceable associates but moments before. It was for this reason alone, that Xu`Thrang did not slay anyone, or offer resistance as he was placed in a sonic-force-field for containment, and suitably sedated.
In less time than it takes to tell of it, Xu`Thrang was stripped of his rank, becoming Heht-Plord (Banished) Xu`Thrang, his wounds from his recent fight where inked, leaving him permanently marked, no matter how he might heal over such damage, and his ears where butchered into the clipped-upright position, so that any Rexalian who met him off-world would know that he was banished at the merest glance, and thus also know they were free to kill and loot him, without declaration of fair combat. He was then loaded into a rocketshell (in effect a spacer’s life-pod that could be fired off like a giant cannon ball) and fired into space at the nearest 'neutral' port planet, to sink or swim on his own. By the time he recovered from sedation, Xu`Thrang was halfway there, and incapable of changing trajectory. Not that doing so would be wise...
Finding himself alone and ignorant of where he was (Xu`Thrang had only been to the Neutral worlds once, and hadn't stayed long), Xu`Thrang quickly considered his options, then looted his rocketshell of anything and everything valuable. There wasn't much. A survival kit, an ambercite psy-translator, a plethora of aetherium survival dirks, a laz-pistol with only one shot in it's energy clip (In case the banished wished to do the last honorable thing and end it all), three days rations a starpoint compass, and a rebreathable gas-mask. Taking all of the above, Xu`Thrang left his rocketshell, locked down its position for possible salvage later. locked it's doors, and started to walk overland through what appeared to be a jungle, towards the neutral trade-city and port of Kalathor. Luckily the planet's air was comparable to Thrangular, but the gravity was lighter, and the temperature was much MUCH warmer. Xu`Thrang strapped the ambercite translator to his forehead, over his third-eye chakra, and made sure to only deviate from the line of travel, for trails, and (most importantly), water.
With deviations for water and food, and a few dust-ups with the local fauna (which... was to be expected) and flora (which wasn't), Xu`Thrang made it to the city in relatively good shape, after three days of travel. The ambercite psy-translator had done the work of taking in com-traffic from the city, translating it, and transferring knowledge of the cities main languages (literacy included), to him, so at least he could understand and be understood by the locals. The security-gate of the walled city, let him in silently, the bug-eyed guards on duty simply blinking their multi-faceted lenses at him, but let him in without comment. Seconds later he suffered an attempted mugging by half a dozen undercity inhabitants, who rushed him and half dragged him into the shadows of a shadowy alleyway. Xu`Thrang allowed this assault with initially token resistance, and bemused gleam in his eyes.
The results were as one might imagine.
Leaving the city no poorer for the loss of six of it's criminal element, Xu`Thrang left the alleyway, better armed, better equipped, possessing some of the local currency in cred-sticks, and wearing some of the local streetwear so at least it looked like he was attempting to blend. Life was good. Time to go to the stars. Even here was too close to the Rexalian homeworld if he wanted to avoid a fatal attack. And so he went looking for his first offworld job. Luckily for him, Rexalian mercenaries were a rare and desirable commodity. Even ones that were fresh out of the banishment pod and unaccustomed to life off their homeworld were considered a lucky, if grumpy find. Xu`Thrang's amiable demeanor was a welcome change, and soon he found himself shipping out as mercenary security, for good pay, on a cargo freighter, shipping exotic goods around the stars, in and out of the Sirius system.
After four years of intergalactic travel, exploration, and education, Xu`Thrang and the freighter found themselves coming out of warp-sleep in the Terran system. This, of course, was not to interact with Terra itself. The place had long since been deemed a hellworld with a dominant species nearing the nuclear apex. No, this was to refuel off an untapped energy source on Neptune. Unfortunately, however, the ship had taken a beating over it's latest warp-jump and was quietly in need of repair, vital fuel-transferring hoses had been struck and neatly holed by a micro-asteroid shower. And, after an unhealthily cursory examination, once in use they began to leak unstable fuel back into the ship’s machinery. A few mini-explosions occurred amidships, killing the head engineer and his crew. By the time the alarm began to ring out through the ship, warning that there were only a few precious seconds to get to the lifepods. Xu`Thrang lucked out, here, finding a lifepod and getting into it, in record time, just as trained. The lifepod launched initially without a problem, and began transmitting it’s distress signal, as Xu`Thrang went into warp-sleep. All was well... Except the resulting detonation from the exploding ship hurled his lifepod towards earth. To this day, he is unsure if there were any other survivors of the explosion, and if they survived to be rescued, out there in the long-dark cold time of warp-sleep.
The explosion's inertia was so great that it rocketed the lifepod into Earth-space within half a year, wherein Xu`Thrang, in warp-sleep, absorbed a few languages from his ambercite translator... But ultimately, the ambercite was overwhelmed by the many different languages, and dialects of Earth, that it only collected a relative handful of common tongues, before cracking and ceasing to operate. Xu`Thrang, slept through all of the rest, mostly. Right until angry F-22's shot the ship down near the Atlantic coast, which rudely awoke him. With no real means of steering, Xu`thring and his lifepod fell to earth, landing just offshore from Lynn Beach, Massachuesetts. He escaped his disintegrating lifepod (it's a feature, not a bug), and swam to shore, escaping into the woods of the nearby Lynn Shore Reservation. Vanishing unseen and mostly undetected into the woods.
Rapidly scrambled FBI and META forces arrived on the scene half an hour later, but the officers were, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on whom you ask), not on par with Xu`Thrang’s survival and stealth training. And so he evaded and circled them quietly. Despite being the superior predator (for the moment), he'd been calmed a bit by his years living and working alongside various alien-species with various different powers and abilities. Countering Meta-training while staying close enough to eavesdrop on their radio communications and group banter, for intel. There was no need to further anger the locals by killing anyone, he felt. At least not today, anyway. Listening in on their conversations, was when he first heard about Cobalt. A place where mutants (the hell was that?) and refugees could find sanctuary and security. He pondered this for a second and decided to take a chance. But not before mugging the commander, knocking him unconscious, taking his wallet, and wrecking his car 50 miles away in the wrong direction as a distraction. Some traditions were worth preserving.
Criminal Record: Xu`Thrang has no official criminal records on Earth (yet), as the American Government has only tangential that yet another alien walks amongst their citizenry, but doesn't know who it is, what they look like, or what they're capable of. The META commander that was mugged, regrettably saw nothing (and was doubtlessly demoted for ending up naked and hog-tied in a parking lot).
According to the laws of the Intergalactic Trade Confederacy, Xu`Thrang is technically in violation of the ordinance that states that none of its members are to land on Earth. Earth is considered a nature preserve, with a nuke-capable species as it’s dominant sentient predator (aka: humanity), and thus there is always the fear that some idiot will give said species enough of a tech-boost, by mistake, to send it hurtling to the stars before it is fully calmed down culturally enough to do so in a peaceable manner.
On Thrungular-Gren only a few people know of Xu`Thrangs existence, this being his father's subordinates, and the other Rexalians who really got to know him. All other records have been scrubbed from the annals of Rexalian history, same as for anyone else who became banished.
Equipment:
-Aetherium Survival Dirk (2): Aetherium is a strange metal, useful not just because of it's ruggedness, but also for the double-molecule thin energy field that it generates about it's surface. The combination of these two factors enables these two 16-inch daggers (bowie-like, and full tang), to peirce and slice through Terran super-metals like ultra-hard titanium alloys. The additional hilt enclosures have a standard supply of survival gear, including water-purifiers, hard-light matches for fire-starting, flint and steel for more basic fire-starting, double-compasses (starlight and local), a smaller knife more suitable for whittling and shaving, a string-saw (also aetherium), and fishing lines and hooks. The two blades and their hilts can be reassembled and conjoined, lengthwise, to form a very durable broadsword.
-Armored Space-Suit (Torn in Half): Under normal circumstances, this suit would come with a face-enclosure that would enable the wearer to survive (unhappily) in open vacuum for three days. It also would prevent damage to the wearer from most conventional small slug-thrower and energy weapons. Just the thing for defending a hostile boarding action in space. However Xu`Thrang’s was shredded in 'assisted descent' to Earth, and only the bottom half (the pants in the image) was salvageable. It still offers some protection to his lower body, however. But maybe the device could be repaired?
-Psychic Ambercite Translator Pendent (Broken): The Psychic Ambercite Translator works by combing the communication networks of a nearby unknown sentient world, recording information on languages, literacy, and social mores, and translating this psionically into the mind of the psychic-capable creature, while they are in warp or spacer-sleep. This provides a crash course in how to interact and communicate with a rough double handful of local sentient races/species, within a relatively short time (a week, of cloaked planetary orbiting) under normal circumstances. A very useful device, or it would be if it hadn't been broken on impact after not having a full time to download the planetary language (Not that it could. Earth has a -lot- of communication network-level languages with their subsequent cultures to parse). Thus Xu`Thrang only knows a rough handful of very common languages (see Language/Literacy skills above), and next to none of the cultural/social mores that come with them. But maybe the device could be repaired?
Quirks, Extras, Random Character Facts:
-On being Ollie: Xu`Thrang has come to go by the name 'Ollie' since he landed on Earth. He will probably not have just one answer or a good explanation of 'why' when asked. But anything is possible!
-On the Arcane-Guild Combine: TBA
-On the Intergalactic Trade Confederacy: TBA
-On Rexalians: TBA