Kjbivins

The Envenomed

Rho-Hux

*The unreliable narrator is strong with this one*

As Rho-Hux walked through the station, he felt like a fresh elver recruit all over again. His old rank of Major meant nothing here; he recognized no officers or soldiers, and most information was closed off to him as he had only been recruited…some time ago. Rho-Hux rubbed his temple as he tried to organize dates and times, but moments and people blurred together more often these days. He remembered talking to someone. Was it in a bar, a shooting ring, or an abandoned mining base on a rogue planet? Regardless, they spoke about Rho-Hux's actions during the Veiled War and Reckoning of Empires with respect and reverence, something his own nephews and nieces had failed in. They wanted, no, needed the Constrictor of Caddadast to return! They said they were from the Intranszjednota, no, the Intransigence, no, that wasn’t right either, …that couldn’t be right. They were the Empire’s intransigence! Yes, that was it! It was a secret organization dedicated to maintaining peace in the galaxy for now and weakening the galactic powers until the Empire was ready to reemerge properly. Now, sometimes, this would mean going after Empire supporters, but Rho-Hux knew these were nothing more than self-obsessed fouls stirring up trouble. Like tending to a tree, the wild branches must be cut off from time to time. That was Rho-Hux’s view, and he was glad he found like-minded people.

So here was Rho-Hux, back at square one. His bones ached, his eyesight had worsened, and his skin looked like it was about to fall off any moment, but he was just as excited for his first mission as he was all those years ago. He had been told he was to be assigned to a relatively new group that had just completed their first mission. As the newcomer, he couldn’t get full access to the mission details, but he could make a few educated guesses. A Commandante Sazan was dead, some high-profile prisoners were exchanged, and Rhodes Valley now had a lot fewer terrorists. That was the one part of the news broadcast Rho-Hux disagreed with. Those rebels were just children having tantrums to get their way. Solar Broadcast Federation would call anyone a terrorist these days.

“What would they have thought of me in my prime?” Rho-Hux thought to himself.

The Envenomed

Name: Rho-Hux of house Lorreas . “The Constrictor of Caddadast.”

Species: Gealtirocht.

Age: 156.

Faction Alignment: Yrrkradians

Height: 8 ft

BACKGROUND:

Born into one of the old feudalist royal families that allied with the Yrrkradians, Rho-Hux was too low in the family tree to be considered an heir, but that didn’t matter in the slightest to him. To Rho-Hux, time is too limited for people to “find themselves”. It is much more efficient to know what your calling is, devote yourself to your strengths, and work with the hand you are dealt with. People born into nobility will either use all their resources and be a better ruler than some silver-tongued politician or make a clown of themselves and soon be usurped by a more rightful ruler. Everyone is but a cog in a greater machine, and for Rho-Hux he was raised to believe there was no greater honor for him than to defend his family house and expand the Yrrkradian empire.

For most of his life, Rho-Hux devoted himself to being a soldier. When given a mission, he would spend hours researching his foes, the landscape, similar battles, and equipment that may be used on both sides. He quickly rose through the ranks, aiding in the Empire’s interests. Once he became a Major, he expected all under his leadership to be up to par with the latest military information.

His most famous mission was Operation Swamp Dragon. His battalion was to aid in taking over the city of Caddadast on the planet Omia. Omia was a planet mostly comprised of dangerous swamps, and Caddadast was a well-fortified city. After trying and failing to breach the walls, Rho-Hux decided to starve the city out. He ordered his forces to poison the swamp water around the city, preventing them from fishing or receiving clean water from within their home. Every time a group went out to get resupplies from elsewhere, Rho-Hux would launch a series of brutal guerilla attacks. The final nail in the coffin came when Rho-Hux received some anti-aircraft reinforcements. Soon, the citizens of Caddadast found themselves trapped in their city without food or clean water. This victory earned Rho-Hux the nickname of “The Constrictor of Caddadast.”

However, Rho-Hux's conquest ended when they were struck by a UCL ship bombing them from orbit. It wiped out Most of Rho-Hux's battalion, with only him and a few survivors seeking shelter in caves. They were classified as MIA for months until Rho-Hux was found alone and half-starved deep underground, three years after the Reckoning Of Empires. His story about what happened during his time in hiding is inconsistent, and due to his deteriorating mental health, he was honorably discharged from the military.

He has not adjusted well to the cease-fire, his discharge, or the Yrrkradian Dominion’s loss of territory. He is a warrior with nothing to fight. Family members and officials have tried to place him in medical institutions to help with his retirement, but Rho-Hux keeps escaping and getting into trouble. Most recently, he spent the last year with a mercenary group of Yrrkradian extremists before he turned on them for “lack of ambition, discipline, intelligence, or basic common sense and manners.”

Rho-Hux is still looking for a new excuse to return to the battlefield to achieve a greater good. His age is quickly catching up to him, as he hasn’t had any rejuvenation augmentations. That said, he still cares about staying as physically fit as possible. Recently, while looking for a new mercenary band to join that wasn't just psychopaths with guns or young thugs who had never seen the horrors of a real war, he was approached by the Intransigence. They had heard about his reputation and wanted to recruit him. They tried to argue that the Empire might have overlooked him, but they still saw value in him and could give him the purpose he had been missing. Rho-Hux agreed, but partially because he mistook the Intransigence as secret Empire agents wanted to bring back the Empire's former might under a new name. In his logic, "They must be the Empire because the Empire would never turn down a good soldier like myself."

Personality: Rho-Hux is bound by duty. When he agrees to do something, he will see it through, whether he likes it or not. While he tries to be philosophical about his loyalty, deep down, he admits he just enjoys the thrill of battle and the glory that comes from people romanticizing it. Years of warfare and his own advancing age have taken a toll on his mental state. Rho-Hux often gets dates, names, and events mixed up. Some days, he thinks he is still fighting in the Reckoning Of Empires with his own troops and fellow Gealtirochts. He greatly struggles in civilian situations, such as seeing nothing wrong with giving children loaded weapons, such as “You don’t give a toy without its batteries. Better to start educating them now rather than later.” While he is fanatically loyal to the old Empire, Rho-Hux doesn’t hold much resentment towards the other factions, seeing them as worthy foes or allies in a greater conflict if needed. He does like to remind people that the UCL had to bomb him from space to slow him down, and he would go into a violent frenzy if someone dared call him a friend of the UCL.

Ethereology: “Ghosting,” as some people call it. Rho-Hux can mute any noise he makes (like footsteps and breathing), remove his scent, and change his body temperature to match his environment. While this does not make him invisible, it does aid him greatly in stealth missions. When combined with his Octopus suit, he seemingly disappears from existence, only to reappear behind his soon-to-be-deceased enemies. The drawback to this power (other than the usual drawbacks to ether powers) is that if Rho-Hux were to be set on fire while using this power, his body temperature would rise dramatically, causing him to burn internally and externally."

Strengths:

-Two cybernetic arms underneath his original ones, each can hold a weapon.
-Skilled swordsmen.
-Stealthy.
-Years of experience.
-Bravery.
-Stubbornness

Weaknesses:

-Fire damages his gear, disrupts his Ethereology, and is extremely painful to him (as it is to most organic beings)
-His mental state is fragile, and he is prone to fits of mania and PTSD.
-His age is catching up to him. He is not as strong as he was/thinks he is.
-Stubbornness

Starting Weaponry, Armor, and Equipment:

-Octopus armor: Blends in with the environment around it. This, when combined with his ether power, makes Rho-Hux nearly impossible to detect. It is light and offers more mobility for wearing at the price of not being as sturdy for defense as other advanced suits of armor. It also malfunctions horribly if set on fire for too long.
-Grapple Battle Rifle.
-Twin SMG guns.
-Daishō sword set.

Into Perdition's Jaws

Animals. What was it about evolution that led to the universe creating so many unique killers, yet only a small percent of them were intelligent enough to organize and form empires? Some mad scientists could turn this Plough-Head into a good bioweapon, it looked like it was already one right now. Then there were the leafslithers, who could be hiding from the Plough-Head, or were planning to attack it. However, could it be they were working together? Could such an advanced form of symbiotic relations develop? Activating his camouflage suit, and “Ghosting” powers, Rho-Hux crawled lower down the tree he was in like an Earth gecko. He tried to get in front of the front but off to the side. His plan was to fire his grappling gun into a tree across from him and attach another line to the tree he was currently on. In theory, this could create a trap wire. In the best case scenario, detecting or walking into the line would confuse the Plough-Head, and allow the group to move on. Worst case scenario, the monster would become enraged but at least the wire would slow it down somewhat. Once his trap had been set he slithered back into the darkness trying to get within arrange of his group. He still had to reconfigure his communication device to theirs.

"Large predator up ahead. It's looking at you Zsresrinn. I planted a trip-wire between the trees. Produced with caution."

Into Perdition's Jaws

"Gnosis Eaters? Well, that's better than shit-eating troglodyte insurgents." Rho-Hux was interrupted by explosions and a voice coming from the strangers' coms. "Speaking of which! I think a little bloodshed is in order."

In one of his four arms, he pulled out one of his Earth-based swords. In another, he pulled out a las-pistol. "All the matters in terms of allegiances is that as of right now I am your friend. I know can help you find the base of the insurgents but first I think we better disarm these trigger-happy terrorists before they start to improve their aim."

Rho-Hux used his grapple hook gun to people himself deeper into the woods. He soon felt the need to return to the group to say one last crucial detail.

"Just to be clear, when I say disarm, I mean cut off their arms and show it to them before you further torture them for information. Professionals have standers and traitors need to be reminded about what happens to dishonorable deserters."

Into Perdition's Jaws

Rho-Hux

Survival was nothing new. War was like nature, you either learned fast and adapt, or die. Rho-Hux had waged many different wars on many alien worlds. It was in the fires of the battlefield that he realized what he was...a killer and a damn good one at that. He spent most of his career as a major and might have become more than that if it was for an I N C I D E N T that led to him being discharged. The UCL wanted nothing more to do with him. Those highborn, white-noose-collared, silver-spooned, test-tube babies that made up high command thought Rho-Hux was "unstable" and "a disgrace" for participating in "war crimes". That load of shit was so big it could be classified as a dwarf planet! There were no rules to warfare, just as there were no rules to nature. Does an Earth sea turtle cry to its mommy when the mean seagull bites its flippers? HELL, NO, that turtle gets off its ass and runs! It cares nothing for its slower siblings, they are weak and a liability. The little bastard runs all the way to the ocean, where it fights sharks, crabs, and all manner of predators just so it can bang another equally strong sea turtle. That was nature, that was war, fight, win, expand! Shit, that was just the tip of the ice burg when it came to the nature of kill or be killed that was woven into the galaxy. Point was, the UCL leadership had gone soft and had put this killer animal in the inhuman petting-zoo known as a "Psychiatric ward".

Well after a couple of years wasting away in there on a diet of pills and sterilized canned food, Rho-Hux had almost forgotten who he was. When he was released from that institution, he struggled to find his place in the world. That was until some bigwigs at The Sect got word that The Constrictor of Caddadast, Rho-Hux, had been released. It didn't take them too long to remind Rho-Hux of the nature of the world, and when they told him about this secret mission of theirs, Rho-Hux remembered what he was meant to do. It was like instinct, like nature. As much as Rho-Hux hated what the UCL leadership did to him, he still considered the UCL to be his pack. He learned everything he knew from them and he thought and died by their side. So when he heard that a couple of sons a' bitches decided to go rogue and betray their brothers in arms, Rho-Hux knew he was destined to kill them.

Well, it seemed these insurgents were hell-bent on pissing off Rho-Hux. Before he was even planet-bound, his team's drops malfunctioned as they entered the atmosphere. When he crashed landed did he try to call for help? Look for the other sect members? OF COURSE, NOT, HE WAS IN WAR NOW! HE RAN, HE RAN INTO THAT OCEAN OF A JUNGLE LOOKING FOR MORE! ANY WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND WERE WEAK AND DESERVED TO DIE! For the past week, he had been surviving in the planet's rainforest, hunting for his prey. He had managed to kill a few insurgents scouts, but not enough to satisfy his hunger. He needed more, but there was only so much an old beast like him could do alone. Well, a week of eating slightly poisonous bugs and strange roots does a lot of negative things to a mad man's mind. Rho-Hux was ready to throw caution to the wind can raid the insurgent's base all by his lonesome until he spotted a large multi-species group through the overgrowth.

There were two humans: One covered in black and gold armor, and the other a tree trunk of a human man. With them was a Voidhanger, a Vrexul, a Celaderaka, and some sort of chimera of animals twisted to resemble a Vrexul. They didn't carry themselves like insurgents, or former UCL for that matter. Armour and weaponry were all over the place. They looked bettered repaired than the hastily assembled SECT group he had been a part of. Still, he didn't want to take too many unnecessary chances. Activating his Octopus armor, he blended into the trees and climbed from tree to tree. He kept two of his hands clasped around his guns in case he needed to go ballistic.

"Well, looks like I just found the island of misfit toys!" Rho-Hux shouted in his old commanding voice. God, he missed scaring new recruits, but he doubted this group would be easy to intimidate. Good, he didn't need one else slowing down the mission. "This is Former Major Rho-Hux. My unit is on a mission to kill some back world UCL insurgents. If I thought you were the insurgents we wouldn't even be having this pleasant little chat right now. Tell me who sent ya and I might consider playing nice!"

Into Perdition's Jaws

Name: Rho-Hux. The Constrictor of Caddadast.

Species: Gealtirocht.

Age: 63.

Faction Alignment: UCL

Height: 8 ft

BACKGROUND PRIOR TO BEING SELECTED FOR THE MISSION:
A former Major In the UCL Military, Rho-Hux

Rho-Hux devoted his existence to being a soldier. When given a mission he would spend hours researching his foes, the landscape, similar battles, and equipment that may be used on both sides. Once he became a Major, he excepted all those under his leadership to be up to par with the latest military information.

His most famous mission was Operation Swamp Dragon. His battalion was to aid in taking over the city of Caddadast on the planet Omia. Omia was a planet made up mostly of dangerous swamps, and Caddadast was a well-fortified city. After trying and failing to breach the walls, Rho-Hux decided to starve the city out. He ordered his forces to poison the swamp water around the city preventing them from fishing or receiving clean water from within their home. Every time a group went out to get resupplies from elsewhere, Rho-Hux would launch a series of brutal guerilla attacks. The final nail in the coffin came when Rho-Hux received some anti-aircraft reinforcements. Soon the citizens of Caddadast found themselves trapped within their own city without food or clean water. This victory earned Rho-Hux the nickname of “The Constrictor of Caddadast.”

However, Rho-Hux's battalion came to an end when they came across a stray Abzu entity. It wiped out Most of Rho-Hux's battalion with only him and a few survivors seeking shelter in the wilderness. They were classified as MIA for months until Rho-Hux was found alone and half-starving in a cave. His story about what happened during his time in hiding are inconsistent, and due to his deteriorating mental health, he was discarded from the military.

REASON FOR MISSION RECRUITMENT: Rho-Hux, having known nothing outside of life on the battlefield, and not wanting to grow old and be forced to spend his life in an institution, heard distant rumors about the mission and hacking into some classified files. He has gone on the run and is trying to join this mission so he may serve a higher calling again. Rho-Hux wishes to die on the battlefield for the good of the UCL. He sees himself as nothing but a soldier.

Ethereology: “Ghosting” as some people call it. Rho-Hux can mute any noise he makes (like footsteps and breathing), remove his scent, and change his body temperature to match the environment around him. While this does not make him invisible; it does aid him greatly in stealth missions and when combined with his Octopus suit, he seemingly disappears from existence only to reappear behind his soon to be deceased enemies. The drawback to this power (other than the usual drawbacks to ether powers) is that if Rho-Hux were to be set on fire while using this power, his body temperature would rise dramatically, causing him to burn internally and externally."

Strengths:

-four arms, each can hold a weapon.
-skilled swordsmen
-stealthy
-years of experience
-loyal and respectful to allies

Weaknesses:

-Fire damages his gear, disrupts his Ethereology, and is extremely painful to him (as it is to most organic beings)
-His mental state is fragile and is prone to fits of mania and PTSD.
-His age is catching up to him. He is not as strong as he was/thinks he is.

Starting Weaponry, Armor, and Equipment:

Octopus armor: Blends in with the environment around it. This when combined with his ether power makes Rho-Hux nearly impossible to detect. It is light and offers more mobility for the wearing at the price of not being as sturdy for defensive as other advanced suits of armor. It also malfunctions horribly if set on fire for too long.

Grapple Battle Rifle.

Twin SMG guns.

Daishō sword set.

THEME SONG: youtube.com/watch?v=rBdQDGGNg8E