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B A S I C I N F O
[Name] Odessa Ulani Thaddeus Isabella Samara
[Callsign] Pegasus
[Gender] Female
[Age] 26
[Rank and Designation] Main-Class Constellation
[Place of Birth] Core Territories; Okeanos
[Official Statement] "This odyssey, too, has a purpose."
C O M B A T A B I L I T Y
[Anti-Barrier Sword] #15: Heaven & Earth Gauntlets
[Anti-Barrier Quotient] 30%
[Physical Description]
Though possessing an ostentatious name, the Heaven & Earth Gauntlets are rather tame in their appearance. A series of AB-alloyed metal plates overlaid atop carbon nano-mesh fabric disguise a network of miniaturized internal servos, designed to provide their wielder with the manual dexterity of uncovered hands while encasing their limbs in a pair of weapons capable of withstanding blows launched at speeds approaching that of light. Though lacking decoration, the dark, smoky metal seems to have an almost cobalt coloration that shines through when its wielder channels the wrath of the heavens through it.
[Attributes]
The Heaven & Earth Gauntlets are so named because of their affinity for that which bridges the gap between: lightning. Those who possess Anomaly abilities within the purview of electricity find their abilities enhanced when channeled through them, increasing their output significantly. The gauntlets have a tendency to 'drink' in the power that flows through them, becoming increasingly iridescent as the charge within grows more and more powerful. Their metallic shells have been scorched more than once by impromptu flares of plasma caused by wielders spontaneously vaporizing enemy and surrounding alike once the energy within had reached a feverish peak.
[Anomaly] Two Heavens
[Origin] Polarity
[Phenomena]
Ostensibly an ability to manipulate one's own electromagnetic field, Two Heavens is an Anomaly steeped more heavily in philosophy than it is science. The concept of the internal and external, of activity and passivity, has a tradition in the martial world stretching back to the days of Old Earth. Those adept in the usage of Two Heavens take this tradition to heart, perfecting first their inner selves—the so-called esoterikós ouranós—through intense self-discipline and meditation, such that they might control the incredible power inherent to their lineage. The counterpart to this, the exoterikós ouranós, is honed through rigorous physical conditioning and training in the martial arts, such that their bodies might handle the incredible strain of what is to come. Only once a wielder has mastered both aspects might they move on to channeling the true strength of their ability.
Combining their inner and outer worlds, Two Heavens adepts become a font of incredible energy, generating absurd amounts of electricity within themselves. Born from their own bodies, the lightning which courses through them does them no harm, but instead empowers them beyond their means. Their muscles produce a force that is inconceivable even amongst the lauded Warrior Families, their perception of the world slowing as they move at the speed of the electricity crackling along their very nerves. A master of the Two Heavens is a force of nature, the eye of the storm, power made flesh. Their fury is made known in brief, near-instant exchanges, obliterating their foes in brilliant flashes of light, and leaving only thunder and the lamentation of enemies in their wake.
[Limitation]
For many who possess an Anomaly, utilizing their power comes to them as second nature, commanding oceans of flame or tearing very fabric of space as easily as a bird takes to wing. Those whose blood carries the Two Heavens are not given such an easy path. Lightning is dangerous, faster and unpredictable. Merely directing it requires the utmost respect and precision, much less coursing it through one's self to force their body to achieve heights previous thought impossible. Two Heaven adepts must exercise the utmost focus when utilizing their abilities, carefully measuring their every move in the instant before it is made and only exerting themselves as much as precisely necessary. It is a taxing Anomaly to make use of, not only mentally, but also physically. As their cousins under the auspices of Limit might best understand, the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and those who channel the primordial might of the heavens through flesh and bone burn brighter than most could ever hope to. | [Surface-level Impression]Odessa can best be described as reassuring, if not approachable. She is cool and collected, possessing a certain comforting serenity that belies the steely conviction beneath her unflappable exterior. Kind by nature, she often finds herself looking after the welfare of others, especially those comrades whom she has had the opportunity to fight beside before. Nurturing and stoic in equal parts, one might be forgiven for thinking her gentle. A notion that is quickly replaced when she enters the field of battle.
A seasoned veteran and warrior, the peaceful tranquility that underpins her behavior outside of battle turns to a cold fury in the face of the archenemy, like a deadly calm before the storm. She is as ruthless as she is fearless while fighting the enemies of mankind, efficiently dispatching her opponents with a dead-eyed composure that rattles even fellow Constellations. Woe be unto those who make themselves her enemies, for Odessa is a woman of absolute faith in both her sense of justice and the conviction to see that justice is done by her own hand, regardless of what their affiliation may be.[Personal History]Born amidst a terrible hurricane during the dog days of Okeanos' long summer, the howling winds and crack of lightning served as an omen for the tempestuous and stormy youth that Odessa was to lead. The child of a decorated Constellation and his beloved wife, there was little doubt that greatness would come to her in time—a notion backed up by rigorous testing when she grew old enough. With a high aptitude for the Anomaly latent in her genes and exceptional scores on her physical exams, it was a foregone conclusion that she would follow in the footsteps of her father and his father before him and become one of humanity's chosen defenders.
Aptitude was not enough to guarantee her such a position of pride, however. Her line held itself to higher standards than more pragmatic families. She was brave and bold and strong and swift, yes, but also impetuous and reckless, more focused on playing at arms than refining herself in silent meditation and careful contemplation. An abundance of heat in her blood, an affinity for the exoterikós ouranós, would impede her hopes of mastering the Two Heavens which had propelled their family to prominence nearly a century before.
A course correction was required. When the time came for the wild young Odessa to enroll in training for the Constellation program, she was not placed with some off-worlder who might encourage such a cataclysmic lack of balance in the pursuit of martial excellence, but instead with an older, more prudent hand: her grandsire, the so-called Old Wolf of Okeanos. A seasoned warrior and survivor of many clashes against the archenemy, Autolycus, whose true name now sprawled into the dozens, was a harsh taskmaster who had little patience for his granddaughter's foolhardiness. He had seen firsthand what tragedies such impulsiveness wrought upon the battlefield mankind found itself ever losing ground upon, much less how disastrous it could be for those who thought to command the primal forces of the heavens. Something he vowed to teach her.
And something she learned. Bit by bit. Lesson by painful lesson. The fires in her never quite died out, but they did temper in time. She learned that if she was to master the world beyond her, she needed first to master the world within. Once she committed that principle to heart, once she found discipline within herself rather than outside herself, she excelled. Whatever progress might have been lost to the willful arrogance of youth was more than made up for under her grandfather's watchful eye. As she neared womanhood, and her official induction into the ranks of the lauded Constellations, her capricious nature reared itself for one final time, a parting shot to Okeanos. On the eve of her graduation, Odessa found herself with child.
Whether purposeful or not, the conception of her daughter halted any hopes of quickly progressing as a Constellation. The armies of humanity had little use for a woman with a child in her belly, and the precious bloodline the child bore was too valuable to potentially sacrifice in the hopes of an expedient promotion. The traditions of her family, still but fledglings compared to the storied ranks of the Sol's most prestigious, further compounded the issue. Their focus on strong foundations barred a child from being left by both parents in the first two years of life. As Odessa refused to name her daughter's sire, she was planet-bound for the foreseeable future.
Some called her feckless. Others, a coward, using her child to escape her duties. She paid them little mind. The baby, Thelema, was born after many long months of such scorn. And in holding that smallest, most innocent soul in her arms, Odessa found within herself a font of something she had lacked for much of her life. She found prudence. She found restraint.
It was difficult to commit to danger and recklessness when someone so dear depended upon one. Raising her daughter for those precious few years was an eye-opening experience for a young woman who had, until that point, lived life for herself first and foremost, a woman of force and activity rather than consideration and thoughtfulness. As she watched her flesh and blood grow from a helpless infant to a bright, vibrant little girl eager to learn about the world, Odessa too learned. And in those lessons, she would find salvation when the call to war finally reached Okeanos.
No longer forbidden from service as a Constellation, Odessa was gifted with the mantle of Pegasus. All the better prepared for the rigors of battle by her long rest, she remained a Stardust-class for only a few months, ascending to the rank of Proto just in time for a dire front to open in humanity's unending war against the Aberrations: the Battle of Planet Pray.
Until that point, Odessa had only dealt in skirmishes and clean-up operations in the wake of more experienced Constellations. The battle for Pray did not seem like it would be much more trying than those most minor of clashes she had known. The initial days of the conflict were tame. All went as expected for a mid-level incursion into occupied human space. Then the Crownguard arrived, and her baptism in battle rapidly devolved into a baptism by fire.
The arrival of a Crownguard was a disaster for the world it landed upon. It was not uncommon for a single one to overpower an entire planet in a day and lay waste to dozens of humanity's best in the process. The surface of Pray was cursed not only with one but two Crownguards only four days into its defense. Before the week was done, they had carved a bloody swathe through the valiant defenders of the world. Forty-three Constellations perished, among them three separate Supernovas—each the veteran of a hundred such battles—and the Main-class Constellation that had taken Odessa under her wing.
By the end of the week, the remaining Constellations managed to finally put down one of the beasts, and send its companion fleeing for its life after one of their number struck a wounding blow against it. Without the Crownguard to support their offensive, and with the remaining Constellations buoyed by the defeat of such an incomprehensible force of nature, Pray was fully liberated before the month came to a close, though much of its surface lay in ruin. It was a victory for humanity. A Pyrrhic victory, but a victory all the same.
It was also an important experience for Odessa. Her first taste of true battle. Of true fear. Of true [i]fury[/i]. Were she the same arrogant pup that came striding from the Old Wolf's den feeling all the invincibility of a young fool, she may yet have perished in that treacherous world. But thoughts of home, thoughts of her daughter, kept her disciplined when she otherwise wished to cave to instinct. Her love for Thelema kept her spirit strong when all seemed lost. Through care and experience, she learned wisdom, and through wisdom, she managed to leave the planet Pray on her own two feet and carry on to other battlefields across the domain of mankind.
The years that followed went swiftly. A survivor of Pray, she quickly found herself promoted to the rank of Main-class before year's end by virtue of how ferocious the fighting had been. Years bled into years as she bounced between active front to active front, honing her skills as a warrior and a leader of men. Every time a Constellation stepped onto the surface of a world, there were no guarantees of victory, of living on to see another day. Pray had taught her that much, and much earlier than most. With her beloved daughter coming of age and beginning her tutelage under that same steely Old Wolf that had molded her into a force of nature, however, the campaign to defend Alora seemed promising. It seemed hopeful.
And it seemed she would swiftly be proven wrong.[Planet Description]Okeanos is as lush and verdant a world as one is likely to find outside of the ancient gardens-worlds of the Milky Way. It is so named for the massive freshwater sea that bisects the planet in two, like the fabled river for which it is named. As this ocean wraps around the length of the planet's equator, the waters are warm and rich with fauna, some of which reach truly monstrous sizes, supported by the abundance of oxygen in the atmosphere and the abundance of smaller prey. The ocean plays host to a series of archipelagos and island chains that dot its pristine waters, with two large, mountainous continents in the north and south where the majority of the population make their homes. Okeanos has a full four seasons thanks to its stable rotation, with hot summers and temperate winters separated by equally mild autumn and spring. Owing to its vast ocean and warm temperatures, Okeanos is wracked by intense storms throughout its hottest months, with some islands vanishing entirely into nation-sized hurricanes at the height of the storm season.[Culture] Okeanos, though welcoming on a surface level, is a planet of extremes. The floodplains along its coasts and larger archipelagos are fertile enough that, in combination with its rich sea, the planet's population has had little difficulty cultivating the necessary food supply to sustain itself. The seasons, barring summer, are mild and temperate enough that open-air settlements are the norm, defying the more advanced arcologies of other colonized worlds in its sector. But these things come at a cost. Summer brings with it violent storms capable of wiping out entire nation-states, and the primeval sea that produces innumerable aquatic sustenance also plays host to aggressive, monstrous mega-fauna capable of dragging the largest vessels to a watery grave. This duality has instilled a distinctive devil-may-care attitude in its populace. The world is a paradise with the potential for cruelty unimaginable. Therefore, the people reason, it is best to live well and to live boldly while one has the chance, and to seize every opportunity presented to them before the mercurial hands of fate twist the fortune against them.
The relative plenty of Okeanos means that the populace needs not to trouble themselves over matters of food or energy security, giving rise to a culture of warrior-scholars the likes of which their ancient progenitors would be proud. Its government is organized into an aristocratic representative democracy, wherein members of its founding families are elected by the citizenry based on who will see to their needs the best and, increasingly, who can manage the demands of the UAS without jeopardizing their way of life.[Warrior Family] Descended from a black sheep of the Symtropantos line, the Perseid family are a relatively new arrival to Okeanos, appearing only after the defeat of Belle during the Chandra conflict of 168 IC. Having lost every comrade he had come to love throughout the war, Perseus found comfort and rest on the ocean planet's shores, charmed by the starkly optimistic views of the locals. It was on Okeanos that the experiences he had weathered—and the wisdom of the dead—that he formulated the doctrine that would go on to govern the family which would one day carry his name. Fathering a plethora of children on a dozen wives, it would only be after his death in 182 IC, and after those children rose to prominence in the fight against the Aberrations, that the Perseid line was formally acknowledged as a fledgling Warrior Family. By then, their code had been formalized. Sons and daughters of the Perseid line were to live courageously, but not recklessly. They were to act with wisdom and temperance, be just in deed and honest in word, and demonstrate a near fanatical loyalty to their comrades, not only those born of their blood but especially those born from battle. This dedication is best demonstrated by the tradition of enthýmisi, or remembrance.
A pariah for his lack of ability amongst the Symtropantos, Perseus cast off his birth name and vowed to become the most shining beacon of humanity, a Constellation, without them. He managed to achieve this feat in no small part the assistance of his fellows in the rigorous training process. These comrades of his, of whom he thought the world, answered the call to bring down the Hive-Mother Belle, and he so accompanied them. Yet to his despair, all but Perseus perished, one after another, in the fight to break the Queen's Crownguard and vanquish the foul beast for the good of man. When the monster was slain, the victory all mankind felt could only be pyrrhic for Perseus. New Constellations would file in to replace his dear companions, picking up their weapons and carrying on where they left off.
Crushed by the thought they might yet be forgotten, Perseus began the tradition of enthýmisi, memorializing the dead by taking their names onto his own, replacing the stain of Symtropantos with those who cherished him and were cherished in kind. This tradition is carried on by his descendants, who begin their lives bearing only the name their mothers gift them. As they live and learn, love and lose, their names grow, and every sacrifice is immortalized as part of their very identity. The oldest Perseids have names that stretch into the dozens, each a beloved friend now lost to the archenemy, each a reminder of why they fight.
Perseids are therefore a proud and dependable family. They fight for their beliefs without regret, pursue their justice without pause, and defend their companions with unmatched ferocity. Their commitment to defeating the Aberrations goes beyond the simple desire for survival, but a deep and ingrained sense of duty, both to those who have been lost before them and those who will be lost long after they too have passed on. Only with the final defeat of the Hive-Mothers will their purpose, set out by Perseus himself, be fulfilled, and only then will their grim determination be halted. [Name]Thelema[Relation to Subject]Daughter[Analysis]Odessa's only child and the light of her life. Thelema is a bright little girl of eight years old, and by all accounts, surpasses even her mother in potential as a Constellation. Precocious by nature, she lacks the fiery streak of Odessa's youth in favor of a curious intelligence that precedes her years. Like many from the more stable Warrior Families, Thelema idolizes her mother and great-grandfather, who serves as her primary guardian in Odessa's absence. She wishes to one day follow in their footsteps as a Constellation all her own, something that she has only just begun journeying towards as of the beginning of the year. |
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