Anya Venari
Star Queen Tirathana VII
Daera Varias
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To make an interesting character to participate in later stories.
- Image Credit: Here, AI art created through Deviant Art. Prompt: "sci-fi female elf soldier in futuristic camouflage dark green armor, no helmet, black hair tied back, blue eyes, spaceship background, slightly pointed ears, 30 years old". It is unfortunate that this writer could not find anything which even vaguely matches what he had in mind. This will have to do.
- Role: Daera is a commander of an advanced unit in Vaena's military. She is an experienced soldier, and a talented commander.
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Tygara , Vashyada , Qadiri , Tylania , Khaimari , Xioquo , Kar'zun, Eldorai, Kaeshana, Eldorai Exodus from Kaeshana, Shadow Knights, Church of Ashira, Vaena Cadalthor, The Arx Aeternae, Board of Control,
- Age: 73. Eldorai age around 3 times slower than humans, making her roughly 25 in human terms.
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Force User
- Species: Eldorai
- Appearance: Daera is a fairly typical example of an adult, female Eldorai. She is of average height for her people, over average in build due to her military training and experience, making her as strong as an average human. She has dark hair, sensible pulled back or even cut short on long campaigns, and deep blue eyes. Like all Eldorai she has slightly pointed ears which are very sensitive. Her skin is relatively tanned for her
As a soldier, Daera has received her fair share of injuries. Most notably is a wound on her left shoulder which was caused by shrapnel, and on her right torso above her hip from a blaster bolt which was only just stopped by her armour.
- Name: High Captain Daera Varias. High Captain is a rank roughly comparable to Colonel.
- Loyalties: The Eldorai Matriarchy, specifically her liege lady Duchess Vaena Cadalthor.
- Wealth: Daera is moderately wealthy. She has a good salary, and is financially responsible. She also receives bonuses and donatives from the Duchess for her service.
- Notable Possessions: Cusaeris Battle Armour, both a parade and a camouflage version. Several medals including the "Crimson Tear" for being wounded in action, the "Champion's Heart" for bravery in action, and the "Valoran Star", named after the War Goddess Valora. The Valoran Star is the highest military honour currently in circulation, provided for her actions during the Sack of the Arx during the Firemane War.
- Skills:
- Advanced firearm and melee weapon skills.
- Advanced military leadership and command skills.
- Proficient in use of armour, shields and explosives.
- Adept in using standard galactic technology.
- Good with languages.
- Good with animals.
- Enthusiastic (if somewhat unsuccessful) gardener.
- Beginner artist, specialising in landscapes.
- Languages: Eldarai (native), Galactic Basic (high proficiency), Zandri, Xio, Prosbia (all basic proficiency).
- Personality: Daera is generally a very even-tempered, reasonable woman. Her main interest is in preserving harmony and order and trying to be rational about things. This does not make her weak-willed though; she is more than willing to stand her ground when she feels it is necessary. This is especially true in her commanding role. She is willing to bend rules or overlook ones which make no sense, but she will enforce the rules when there is no reason not to. She is quite popular with her soldiers because she expects no favouritism or special perks of command. She will eat what the soldiers eat and is happy to sleep in a basic command tent or in the field during extended patrols.
Daera has an inquiring mind and capacity to learn. Most importantly, she never assumes she is right, and when presented with new information she will gladly change her mind as needed. The most obvious case is her embracing of the native Tygarans and their ways which has improved considerably from her self-confessed ignorant view when she first arrived.
One area where Daera has a strong connection is in religion. Though by no means a zealot, she is a spiritual person and believes in the Goddess Ashira…even if that view might deviate from some of the canonical verse. She takes the example of the Goddess in how she acts and believes.
Daera is very protective of her friends and her family. Despite her disagreements with her parents (mother especially) she would never want to see any harm to come to them. She is especially protective of her younger sister Tarana, even if they have a somewhat prickly relationship.
As Daera is a not a Sciian (the Eldorai term for Force User) in a family and indeed a society which values them, she has quite an inferiority complex about it. Doubtless the attitudes of her mother especially played a part in this, as she never disguised her disappointment that her daughter was not a Sciian, and thus never going to follow her into the Angelii. This inferiority complex manifests itself in a lack of confidence and deference towards other Sciians, especially in social situations. However, one unexpected side effect is that when she ended up fighting enemy Force users in the Firemane war she became determined to defeat them where she could…which led to a couple of very close calls!
Overall, Daera is a kind, charming, understanding woman, naturally quiet and shy, but when in command she assumes another persona. As a soldier she is pragmatic, but more than capable of being ruthless against the enemy.
- Weapon of Choice: Sarix, Taegis Battle Shield, blaster pistols and rifles, vibroblades, various grenades and explosives.
- Combat Function: Daera is an officer and frontline fighter. She is primarily a scout and assault infantry leader, but is more than capable adapting to a role involving boarding space ships, operating with armour, and defending positions. In battle she will adapt to the needs of the situation. In an ambush she would use cover and ranged fire before closing in if needed with melee weapons.
- Force Abilities (Force Users Only): N/A
- Woman of War. Daera is an experienced soldier who has fought across the galaxy. She is proficient with ranged and melee weapons, defences, explosives and other technology. As an Eldorai her eyesight, speed and agility are much stronger than a regular human.
- Mistress and Commander. Daera's experience extends to leadership where she has risen through the ranks to the position of High Captain, a quite senior role. She is a brave and popular with her soldiers and tends to lead responsibly.
- Strong Willed. Though not a Sciian, Daera has a strong will, and can resist many Force charms and tricks with effort. A true master of the Force will of course overpower her, but her innate stubbornness ensures she will not be an easy conquest.
- Mere Mortal. Daera is not a Sciian, and so her strengths are entirely limited to what she can physically and mentally achieve herself. This does give her a bit of an inferiority complex, whilst conversely make her unusually rash when fighting enemy Force users to prove herself.
- Species Weaknesses. Despite being well built, trained and toned for her species, as an Eldorai, Daera lacks the raw physical strength of other species. She is probably on par with an average human for strength and endurance. This is also added to the extra needs of her metabolism for food to make long marches more challenging.
- Flying. Daera is not a pilot of any form. She would likely be able to keep a shuttle steady, but is entirely untrained in landing or otherwise controlling vessels of any type.
Daera Varias was born on Kaeshana during the final years of the planet's isolation from the galaxy. Her mother, Savana Varias, had been a member of the elite Force using corps of the Queen, the Angelii. This had raised the family from rather humbler origins and after her service she had been remained a trainer and clerk to the corps. Whilst there she met her future husband, Maldon Istnil, who was serving as a trainer for the male Sciian auxiliary corps. In the deeply matriarchal and traditional society of the Eldorai, males were expected to be subservient to their wives, and did not serve in frontline combat roles. All male Sciians were trained to control their powers, and then to assist as nurses or in support roles. As a result of the strict bans on marriage and child bearing for active Angelii, Savana did not get married until her 90s, the rough equivalent of a human's mid-30s.
The result of this marriage was Daera, a child who Savana hoped would carry on the family's rise and legacy. Unfortunately, Daera was not a Sciian, and this contributed to Savana's rather unfair disappointment in her eldest daughter, but also her determination to have another. When Daera's younger sister Tarana was born as a Sciian, Savana turned most of her energies to her. This effectively led Daera to be raised by her father, a gentle and other good-natured man under the strong influence of his wife.
Daera was considered worthy enough to attend a decent school, and learned quickly. Indeed, she worked extra hard on her studies in order to gain any sort of appreciation or recognition from her mother. However, after graduating second in her class of over a hundred, Savana's only comment was "you could not even be the best of the rejected". This certainly hurt Daera, and contributed to a frostiness in relationships with her mother. Daera indeed rejected her mother's attempt to find her a husband, or for her to go into the church. Instead, Daera chose to join the royal army. At this time, isolated from the galaxy, and with the only threats being the occasional coup or rebellion, the army's officer corps was something of a dumping ground for the 'spare heirs' and unreformed daughters of the wealthy. The ranks were filled with 'volunteer' convicts, the desperate and dispossessed farmers.
Daera was able to secure a position at an officer's college because of her father's family and came first in her class; partly because few actually tried. Thus, as junior lieutenant (called Host Leader) she joined the ranks of one of the few ready formations of troops in the royal army.
Her timing was either brilliant or terrible, as Kaeshana was being forcefully brought back into the galaxy from millennia of isolation. For several years, pirates had identified Kaeshana as a good target for raiding and slaving, as it was unprepared and armed with inferior weapons. For a time, Queen Tirathana VI's government tried to conceal knowledge of these incursions, but it soon became obvious that the Eldorai and Kar'zun were not the only intelligent species.
For Daera, these first few missions almost always involved arriving in the aftermath of a pirate raid, seeing the destruction and loss. Her first taste of combat was when the pirates boldly attacked her unit head on. Unprepared and outgunned, her unit took heavy casualties, but Daera herself was commended for her bravery and for killing one of the pirates with her Sarix, and then shooting two more with a captured blaster. The whole affair dented her idealistic view of soldiering, but she was determined to continue to defend her people.
The fate of the Eldorai over the next decades was not a pleasant one. Many might say it was a reward for their sins, their arrogance, their hubris. And indeed, much of the suffering the Eldorai suffered was perhaps due in no small part to their mistakes. And yet, this does ignore the point that many of those who suffered had no part in the affairs of the mighty.
A detailed recounting of the course of Eldorai history is unnecessary here, but Daera's role in them bears mention.
When Firemane helped incorporate Kaeshana into the Protectorate, Daera enthusiastically learned all she could about these new people, a contrast to many Eldorai's hesitancy. Nor did this undermine her faith, it merely confirmed that there was more to the galaxy than she knew. She played little role in the minor civil war to put Tirathana VII on the throne, having been stationed far away. Hoever, Daera served in several campaigns as a component of the Protectorate's military, showing her qualities in hard battles across the stars.
Disaster struck Kaeshana when a giant asteroid was spotted on a collision course. As much of the population as possible was evacuated to the newly discovered world of Tygara, but many were left behind. As a former Angelii, Savana was chosen for a transport, but refused to go until Daera literally dragged her on board a transport just a few hours before impact. As Daera was a soldier, her job after getting her family to safety was to try to save as many as she could, and then watch helpless from orbit as the asteroid impacted. In the aftermath she was on the ground rescuing people and attending to the cleanup as much as she could.
In the wake of the evacuation of the planet, Daera saw Tygara for the first time, being settled in the domain of the Duchess Cadalthor and assigned to her forces. Daera had heard that the Ajustran natives had willingly given up their homes and made way for the Eldorai to settle the northern continent. A lie, she learned later to her chagrin.
In the battles to unify and solidify Tygara under Firemane's control, Daera played a part, fighting in a reserve formation against the Xio, and conducting a naval landing against Khaimari pirates to prevent them being a hazard on the seas. For her experience and bravery, she was promoted to Seraph (equivalent of a Major) and tasked with helping build an elite new light infantry scouting force to help explore Tygara and beyond.
Kaeshana returned to the spotlight as the damaged planet was invaded by the First Order. Daera fought in the battles that followed, being wounded by an Acolyte of Ren, even as she managed to kill them in return. This bitter defeat led to the near-complete abandonment of the shattered planet, and the reorientation of the Eldorai people away from their homeworld.
For several years there was peace until it became clear that Firemane had decided to drop all pretence of being the helper of the Tygarans and was instead their overlord and master. In this time Daera assisted her sister where she could as she passed through her final studies and attempted to reconnect with her parents to limited success. Daera adamantly refused to resign her commission and was not interested in getting married or having a serious relationship with anyone, male or female.
Regardless, it was also during this time that the old Duchess Tarissa Cadalthor pushed her luck too far and was destroyed by Siobhan Kerrigan in front of the Council. In her place, the illegitimate cousin Vaena Askari was legitimised and made Duchess Vaena Cadalthor. The young Duchess faced a lot of opposition from members of the family, but she found a loyal ally in Daera. When members of the Cadalthor family attempted a coup, Daera moved her forces into the palace and garrisoned it against an attempt to arrest Vaena. Despite this being a likely doomed venture from the start, Vaena was grateful, and offered Vaena the position of second in command of her guard. Vaena accepted, though long term she wanted to go back to her light infantry role.
It was around this time that Daera had an unfortunate encounter with Tegaea Alcori, once CEO of Firemane and now socialite. Tegaea was prone to showboating around Firemane's domains and vassals, no matter how unpopular this was. On this occasion she decided to grace Vaena, who was none too pleased by the intrusion. Daera was given the unenviable task of dealing with the petulant visitor as she was made to wait, and she did so with aggressively calm patience. Tegaea attempted to proposition Daera whilst waiting, and Daera calmly rebuffed her, like speaking to a child. When finally Tegaea was admitted, Vaena was frosty to her, and Tegaea left in anger, Daera showing her out. It had certainly been an unfortunate experience which brough home to Daera just how bad Firemane had become.
Tensions with Firemane escalated and eventually erupted into open war when Elpsis Kerrigan disavowed her parents and launched an insurrection. Many Tygarans and Eldorai as well as rebels from Firemane were slow to join the fight, but Vaena was one of the first. Daera was present in the battle where Vaena dramatically turned on Firemane and struck a blow against them. In the struggle which followed, Daera transferred back to the light infantry and fought her erstwhile allies in several hard battles.
The climax of the war for Daera was during the strike against the massive Arx station. As a massive space battle raged on, Daera led a strike force to the massive station, fighting through desperate enemy defences and assuming temporary command of her regiment when her commander was killed. In the fighting she was wounded fighting an Order of Fire knight who she also managed to kill. The reward for this was the killing of Vivian from the Firemane Board of Control. Daera was completely unimpressed with Vivian's attempts to threaten, bribe or beg for her life. Still, she was reluctant to murder a prisoner, until Vivian foolishly tried to pull a concealed weapon on her, and Daera gunned her down.
With her part of the battle done, Daera spent some time recovering, but was rewarded for her heroism with promotion to High Captain and the official promotion to command the unit she had led to the Arx.
In the aftermath of the war, Daera was tasked with clearing out Firemane and bandit remnants. However, she became aware fully and confronted with the realities of what had happened on Ajustra. The mass deportation of the native Qadiri was a shock and painful reminder about how her people had done a lot of terrible things. She had always known about the wars with the Kar'zun, but on closer discussion with some of them she came to realise again that the Eldorai had committed grievous sins there. This caused her a deep amount of introspection.
With the war over, divisions within the Eldorai Matriarchy started to surface, and would in time lead to civil war. In this conflict it would once again be the Eldorai who would be their own worst enemies. Daera remains loyal to Duchess Cadalthor, though her faith in her Queen and people has been shaken. Quite what this will mean for her later is anyone's guess, but for now she wants to do all she can to protect the innocent and avoid spilling blood unnecessarily.
