OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Sub the leader of the Harbingers of Twilight. Sub a male elf who doesn't follow classical Eldorai gender roles.
- Image Credit: Here. 'Dark Eldar: Archon3' by Beckjann on deviantart.com.
- Role: Fatebringer of the Harbingers of Twilight.
- Links: Yuuzhan Vong,Tygara, Kaeshana, Church of Ashira, Eldorai Exodus from Kaeshana.
- Age: 95
- Force Sensitivity: Force Dead
- Species: Eldorai.
- Appearance: The Fatebringer usually wears his suit of armour. However, his pale skin is marked with scars from various fights - and from the alterations the Vong forced upon him. This includes rituals scarring, as is customary among the Yuuzhan Vong. He has a web tattoo across his deeply scarred face. His eyes are cold, but alert. His face, upper right arm and back have some Illyrian tattoos. His movements are economical. He has been endowed with Steng's Talons as part of his escalation.
- Name: Tynan Vanoth.
- Loyalties: Harbingers of Twilight, Shadow Knightshttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/135186-the-shadow-knights/, Emissaries of Illyria.
- Wealth: As leader of a sect of Eldorai raiders, Tynan has amassed some wealth. However, he does not waste it on creature comforts or the trapping of power. Instead he uses it strategically to strengthen the group.
- Notable Possessions:
Skerr Kyrric - Amphistaff
- Cloak of Nuun
- Stealth field generator
- Sarix
- A Corvette called Stille.
- An indentured Shaper who's kept around as a minion.
[*]Skills:
- Stealth
- Tactical command
- Sniping
- Melee combat
Personality: Tynan is a figure of calm and control. He believes in economy of word, motion and deed. He is the type to observe and only act when needed. Detractors have seen this as a sign of weakness or lack of resolve, only to be disabused of this notion. They tend to be surprised by the explosive violence he is capable of unleashing. Tanon remembers those who cast his people out. He also remembers the Vong who enslaved them. He remembers being scorned and treated as a second class citizen in the Eldorai's matriarchal society due to his gender. But his is a cold hate, not a burning rage. Tranquil fury is a good way to describe it. He possesses an unnerving coyness to him, tranquil and detached in the face of danger and mildly playful, though not a slave to whims. He respects audacity paired with cunning.
The harsh life he has led has made him tough. He is not needlessly destructive, but rather ruthless. He possesses a strong urge for self-improvement, both in the sphere of combat and outside of it. Perhaps the discrimination he had to endure on account of his gender fuelled his drive to be the best. In battle, he is willing to sacrifice a few pawns in pursuit of a larger goal. That said, he is not heartless. Indeed, he is very attached to the members of the cult he heads and does not throw lives away needlessly. But the needs of the many outweigh those of the few. Like all Harbingers, he worships the Eldorai Death Goddess Illyria. The violence he unleashes is not just business, it is the fulfillment of her will. The Illyrian faith elevates the Force Dead, while regarding Force-users with suspicion, for they are susceptible to the whispers of the spirits, which can cause them to fall to evil. By contrast, the Force Dead cannot be haunted by the spirits, which makes them blessed.
He is also the type to collect trophies and trinkets. He's displayed a talent for deception. This was shown when he managed to convince his Yuuzhan Vong master that he was completely obedient to him and had submitted to the True Way. In truth he was one of the leaders of the insurrection, supporting Rina Daera, the first Fatebringer. The deception helped his brethren break their chains and escape their oppressors.
One of his traits is to avoid the limelight. He's content with Tániel Aevaris, a fiery Illyrian preacher, being the leader of the Emissaries of Illyria, a cult that was formed by the Harbingers merging with Illyrian sects thast had survived Kaeshana's destruction. He was tempted to make a play for the leadership after becoming Fatebringer. However, he threw his support behind Tániel. Perhaps he realised that the Eldorai, even the more progressive Illyrians, would not accept a male high priest. Or perhaps he simply did not seek a position that would put him under intense public scrutiny and taken him away from battle. Either way, both have a decent working relationship.
Tynan defies traditional male pursuits in Eldorai society. He has no interest in settling down with a wife, providing her with children and becoming a homemaker. As a young warrior, he proved that he was just as brave and skilled as any Eldorai female - if not more so. Interestingly, although his own gender was an obstacle for him among his people, Tynan is rather dismissive of the Eldorai male rights movement. Truth be told, he is scornful of the Masculine Anti-Defamation League, viewing them as toothless. Thus he's taken very little interest in thei demands, such as the the introduction of a quota on the number of men serving in management positions. He has poor relations with the Aspirants, a sect of Ashiran reformists who want to return to what they consider to be the 'true word' of Ashira. Due to his own past, he is suspicious of them.
Ironically one of Tynan's associates is a Yuuzhan Vong. Nei of Domain Zun-Qin is a skilled Shaper. She started out as a captive, but over time has become a useful minion and, surprisingly, occasional confidante. When Tynan fell victim to a dangerous disease, it was Nei who cured him out of self-interest. As a bioengineer and scientist, she is a notable asset to Tynan, whose understanding of the biotechnology that altered his people is a bit limited.
COMBAT INFORMATION
- Weapon of Choice: Melee weapons, shattergun, Vong projectile biots, disruptor, sniper rifle. Fond of Rodian death blades.
Combat Function: Being Force-Dead he is immune to direct applications of the Force, similar to the Yuuzhan Vong which afflicted her with such abilities. He has no presence within the Force and causes no ripples in its flow. While a great benefit, it does have the normal associated downfalls in that he cannot be aided by Force techniques such as Battle Meditation, Telepathy or Force Healing. Moreover, he can still be hurt by Force Lightning and can be affected indirectly by the Force. For instance, chucking a boulder obviously works. So does setting the area around him on fire or using air manipulation to increase air pressure. For unknown reasons, Force Net also works on the Force Dead. Sensitive hearing makes him more vulnerable to high-pitch frequencies, such as those emitted by sonic weapons. While his eye implants improve his sight, the implanatation process was rather crude. Tynan is more vulnerable to extremely bright lights or flashbangs than a normal human or Eldorai would be.
Common Eldorai are very agile, dexterous and have impressive hand-eye coordination, but suffer from being less physically strong and having a lower pain threshold than humans. Being altered by the Vong 'treatment' has left Tynan less dexterous than his Eldorai brethren, but as a tradeoff he is stronger and has a higher pain threshold. This is because the 'alterations' were extremely painful and toughened him up. His physical strength is equal to that of a human and he is very good shape. He has been endowed with Steng's Talons as part of his escalation. Tanon is a capable tactician and a good commander for his troops. He believes in the importance of good information and preparation. Ideally he will know about his enemy ahead of time instead of rashly charging into a situation, though he is capable of thinking on his feet.
Like all Harbingers, Tynan owns a suit of Vonduun crab armour. However, he regards the heavy armour as restrictive and confining, so he rarely wears it. Instead he prefers to don a lighter suit of armour that leaves him more vulnerable to attacks, but grants him mobility. He often combines this with stealthy gadgets, as he is good at sneaking and striking unexpectedly. He is proficient in the use of ranged weapons, good in hand to hand and a skilled melee duellist, using a blade, garotte or an amphistaff. He uses misdirection and confusion a lot to get an edge over an opponent. Tying in with his preference for cunning, Tynan is a good sniper, favouring a Verpine sniper rifle. However, he is less skilled in the use of heavy weapons. His piloting skills are mixed. He's good for stealthy insertions and rapid getaways, but not a fighter ace.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Harbingers of Twilight are a cult most Eldorai dislike speaking about - those who know of them at any rate. This especially applies to conservative Ashirans. The Harbingers are not just Illyrians, worshipping a goddess who was banished into a hellish pit for creating demons and trying to strike down Ashira. They are Force Dead. This makes them soulless abominations from the point of view of most Ashirans.
This was not the cultists' own doing though. The cult came into being when Tirathana VI., the mother of the present, far more liberal and enlightened Star Queen, banished an entire community of Illyria worshippers from Kaeshana. The Queen's own legitimacy was somewhat questionable after deposing a branch of the royal family with a better claim to the throne, so she sought to bolster it by presenting herself as the standard-bearer of orthodoxy. Abandoned in deep space, the acolytes of Illyria were ambushed, captured and enslaved by Vong pirates.
The Yuuzhan Vong did not just enslave them, but also conducted cruel biological experiments. Many of the captives did not make it, but those who did were turned Force Dead. The Vong cult used them as slave-soldiers. Eventually, the captives were rebelled, taking advantage of an internal power struggle within the ranks of their masters. They were able to escape on stolen vessels. Their world view had been irrevocably altered by the tribulations they had experienced. They became the Harbingers of Twilight, a nomadic sect of outcasts, explorers and cunning raiders. In time, they came to see becoming Force Dead as an act of communion with their goddess, breaking the shackles of Ashira, whose minions had dared to scorn them, and embracing the Mistress of the Underworld.
Tynan was one of the Harbingers who led the insurrection. Eventually, he became the leader of the warrior cult. He was born in a family of low caste Eldorai. He turned to the Illyrian faith because it was more egalitarian and, unlike Ashiranism, promised something close to gender equality. However, he was not an insurgent or revolutionary conspirator. He would have probably lived a relatively law-abiding life, perhaps even recanted his beliefs at some point, if he had not been one of thousands of Illyrians who were arrested, interned and then banished from Kaeshana.
As is so often the case, repression fostered resentment. He was radicalised by his experiences in prison, where he endured physical and mental torment, and forced exile. However, worse was yet to come, for the ship the heretics had been herded on was seized by Yuuzhan Vong raiders. These Vong were a radical splinter group. To them, the Eldorai exiles were suitable prey. Many of the captives were put to work as slave labourers on the Vong worldship, or sold on the slave markets. However, the Vong Shapers had something special in mind for a select few of them. Tynan was one of the 'chosen' that were turned Force Dead.
The alterations the Vong forced upon him and his brethren were agonising. Eldorai have a lower pain threshold than humans and Vong are not gentle creatures. So many of the captives perished. Those that showed defiance were exposed to the Embrace of Pain. Few survived that. The abuse taught Tynan a valuable lesson. He realised the necessity of cunning. He held on to the intense hatred he felt for his captors, but kept it buried inside him. His exterior self would conform, while his interior one would hide behind a mask, until one day he could reveal his true nature. Tynan was among the Illyrians who survived the experiments. They were taught about the True Way and trained as slave-soldiers.
One of the Vong officers took an interest in Tynan, while watching him in the fighting pits. While duelling, Tynan was bitten by an amphistaff. However, as the fatal poison started taking effect, he managed to stab his opponent with a concealed knife and bash their skull a rock while they were down. As he lay there, succumbing to the venomous poison, the Vong decided that he was worth keeping alive and had a minion administer an antidote. This Vong was Qorih of Domain Jamaane, an ambitious warrior. He decided to take on Tynan as a minion, though he was always quick to remind the Eldorai of his place whenever he seemed insuefficiently obedient.
Outwardly, Trynan accepted his place. He learned the tenets of the Gospel of the True Gods and the Great Doctrine by heart, until they seemed more familiar to him than the Gnostic Gospel of Illyria. He trained rigorously, honing his skills in the fighting pits. The Vong decided to bloody their slave-soldiers by launching a raid. This one brought Tynan and his comrades back to their homeworld - Kaeshana. A remote Eldorai settlement was the target. This occured in a time when Kaeshana was still isolated from the rest of the Galaxy. Fearing that the Eldorai would be tempted to turn away from traditional values if exposed to foreign ideas, Tirathana VI. had sided with the religious right that preached all outsiders were soulless abominations. Kaeshana' isolation also meant that its soldiers had inferior technology.
The raid was brutal and ferocious. On the one hand, it was for Tynan to get revenge for being banished from his homeworld. On the other, he hated the Vong and knew what they had in store for their Eldorai victims. However, to the Eldorai he would be an abomination, and disobedience would mean death. So he chose survival. Leading a squad in a night assault, they used stealth and the cover of darkness to quietly eliminate sentries ere battle was joined. He showed promise as a small unit leader and remained calm under fire. As the settlement burnt and captives were being loaded up, the Vong and their minions were faced with an Angelii counterattack.
Tynan's squad was forced to perform a rear guard action and he ended up duelling one of the 'Heavenly and Wrathful Angels of the Great Goddess Ashira'. His opponent was skilled, brave and zealous. Though unused to fighting the Force Dead, she adjusted, inflicting injuries upon him by summoning blasts of elemental lightning. Both inflicted wounds upon each other in intense melee combat. Tynan was fuelled by a desire to survive and harnessed his contempt for the Matriarchy and the Ashiran faith. The fact she considered him a demon fuelled him. His amphistaff helped distract her and he struck her down after injuring her with a razorbug. Respecting her prowess, he gave her a quick death, which kept her from being captured and enslaved or altered by his Vong masters.
Having come under heavy fire from Eldorai troops, the Vong withdrew with their booty. Once they had returned to their base, the Vong divided the spoils amongst themselves. It did not escape Tynan that for all their rhetoric about being a superior race chosen by the True Gods, the Vong leaders squabbled amongst themselves. They lacked the unity that had enabled their ancestors to almost conquer the Galaxy centuries ago. His own master vied with two other Vong commanders.
It was around this time that Tynan started working with Rina. At first neither seemed to care for one another. They argued over the trinkets the Vong tossed their slaves and came to blows in the fighting pits. Later on Rina had her minions ambush Tynan and interrogated him, threatening him with death. However, they were able to reach an understanding. Neither wanted to be under the yoke of the Yuuzhan Vong forever. Both still believed in Illyria. So they agreed to work together.
Tynan proved his loyalty to Qorih by killing a disobedient slave. He also framed some loyalist Eldorai slave-soldiers as heretics, allowing him to advance in rank. He displayed great eagerness in undergoing the process of ritual scarring the Vong were so enamoured with. Slowly his capricious master came to trust him. Tynan played on the resentment he felt towards his fellow commanders, using information Rinan managed to feed him. The Vong warlords were already moving towards confrontation, but the Eldorai chose the right moment to prepare. Eventually things came to head. One of Qorih's rivals was killed in battle, eliminating the one factor that kept the balance. He moved against his remaining rival, Tsarok of Domain Choka, who was the master of Rina and had the support of many Intendants. Declaring him a heretic, he challenged him to battle. Rina had prepared the soldiers under her command for this day. They fomented rebellion, overpowering their Vong masters when they were supposed to be sent into battle to fight and die for their tormentors.
Taking advantage of the chaos that ensued when the worldship descended into violence, the Eldorai slave-legionnaires made their escape. Not all made it. Tynan was among those that survived. During the breakout, he encountered his master, who had been severely wounded. Tynan maimed him to keep him from escaping, then left him to bleed to death. Tynan's role had been unknown to many of the Eldorai and so a number called for his head. Indeed, some of Rina's underlings advised her to get rid of him. However, to the surprise of some, she decided to let him keep his head because he had served the cause. Illyria valued cunning, and he had shown it. Survival and victory demanded sacrifice. The dead had entered the realm of the Mistress of the Underworld. Thus he was given a role in the new cult, the Harbingers of Twilight. However, many of his fellows distrusted him and Rina kept him outside her inmost circle. He earned a small measure of respect when he volunteered for the rescue team that retrieved Siona Vaerum and her father, who had been stranded on Raevana, a tropical world filled with dangerous beasts.
Being Force Dead made the Harbingers of Twilight outcasts, for an Eldorai without Sciia is a soulless being. Even if they had wanted to, they could not have gone back. Ironically, these experiences strengthened their faith in Illyria. As they became more and more removed from their roots, they began to see becoming Force Dead as an act of communion with their goddess, breaking the shackles of Ashira and embracing the Mistress of Hell. They became a force of cunning raiders, guerillas and mercenaries, living a nomadic existence. One of their targets was, unsurprisingly, the Eldorai Matriarchy. Tynan became one of their officers, leading small warbands on raids. Aside from raiding and pillaging, they also practised a form of 'shadow justice' by punishing slavers, as they had not forgotten their own enslavement. They preferred poetic punishments, such as hurling slavers out of airlocks into the vacuum of space - or enslaving them. A commando led by him raided the villa of the Eldorai aristocrat involved in rounding them up in the prison camp and banishing them. She was subjected to the same torment the Yuuzhan Vong had forced them to endure.
As Firemane had become an ally to the Matriarchy, they also clashed with the corporation's forces in its early days. Seeking loot, the Harbingers targeted their convoys and mines. But Firemane was a strong opponent. Over time Kaeshana became too hazardous a raiding target. Having received advanced equipment and better training from Firemane officers, the Matriarchy became a formidable opponent for the raiders. An attack led by Tynan on an Ashiran temple went ill when they were confronted by the Matriarchy's new model army and forced to retreat with losses. Tynan suffered shrapnel injuries inflicted by a Firemane bolter. For a while they pulled back into the Unknown Regions. There they hired themselves out as mercenaries. During a mission deep in the unknown regions he and his warband encountered the ferocious Klaxxi. Using stealth and darkness, the huge spiders ambushed them. Tynan was deaf to their telepathic influence, but their deaf was tremendous. Injured by the blows of an arachnid, he managed to use his agility to get beneath it and thrust his blade into its vulnerable underbelly, piercing its exoskeleton. As it sought to grab him with its legs, he tossed a grenade into its mouth. He kept a Klaxxi tooth as a trophy.
He accepted contracts from the Lords of the Fringe, who fought a number of battles and border skirmishes with the Omega Protectorate, the great power Kaeshana had joined as a member state. Tynan fought in the Battle of Eriadu and participated in a number of skirmishes in the so-called Omega Neutral Zone. Then came the Netherworld Event. Without warning, billions of people disappeared in an instant. They awoke in the underworld. Moreover, the ability of Force-users to manipulate the Force became chaotic at best. This was the doing of Akala, an ancient, insane Kwa princess. Her machinations sent the Galaxy spiralling into chaos. Some empires crumbled, others sensed opportunity.
The Harbingers interpreted these events through a religious lense. Some of their own had been raptured. Several of their warrior-priestesses proclaimed that this was the work of Illyria. The Mistress of Hell had broken the hold of the spirits and deprived Force-users of their undeserved power. Privately, Tynan was a bit sceptical. Was this punishment for the Ashirans? Or the latest trial for her true servants? On balance, he concluded that it was more the latter, but certainly not a world-ending event. Fatebringer Rina Daera, who was more of a believer, led the Harbingers on an offensive to take advantage of the chaos. The outer rim was in a state of turmoil, so they were not lacking in targets.
They also hit Kaeshana once more. Many Eldorai interpreted the rapture as the End of Days. The immediate outcome of this belief was a paroxysm of violence. However, the 'Dark Eldorai' were a fractious lot who were terrible at uniting behind any cause. Some wanted a theocracy, others a military junta or a republic. Many also scorned the Harbingers, regarding them as demonic abominations. While the capital erupted into violence, the Fatebringer directed her followers to covertly recruit in the provinces, exploiting the disruption to build up their own infrastructure in areas where central authority was weak. This proved to be wise because the royalists were able to weather the storm. Tynan felt more than a little schadenfreude when a rising of Ashiran fanatics was suppressed.
Meanwhile, Akala was slain, her rampage came to an end and the Force returned. This was quite disappointing for the Force Dead zealots. At the same time, a lost lamb returned to the flock. Siona Vaerum had been raptured and ended up on the Field of Blades. There she encountered an amnesiac, feral ex-Angelii who went by the name Ashana. Both had to work together to escape this hellish realm. Of course, befriending a Force-user was anathema to the Harbingers. Tynan reacted with suspicion when the pair arrived at their mobile base. His initial reaction was rather hostile, but he warily accepted the ex-Angeli in the end, with the argument that she could not do much on her own, especially given her amnesia. Perhaps it was the fighting spirit she displayed when some Harbingers tried to rid her of her 'curse'. It helped that she clearly did not care for Ashiran teachings. Nonetheless, she was kept under guard though and monitored constantly.
However, soon there was bigger fish to fry, for Kaeshana had been devastated by a huge asteroid. Many Eldorai had been able to escape the cataclysm, but some had been left behind. The Harbingers decided to get involved. At first, they only wanted to help evacuate fellow Illyrians, but after seeing conditions first-hand, the Fatebringer decided to extend a helping hand to the survivors of the calamity, who were struggling on the post-apocalyptic planet. These were harsh times. An impact winter had set in, starvation and internecine strife among the survivors claimed many lives. Surviving Illyrians merged with the Harbingers to form the Emissaries of Illyria, with Rina as their first leader. However, it was a harsh, bitter time. The Harbingers allied themselves with the Shadow Knights, a rebel coalition trying to wrest some order from the chaos. This time was characterised by a struggle for survival. Threats the Shadow Knights had to face included warlords, slavers and Archangel HRDs.
Then came the Kaeshana Rebellion. Like the rest of the Shadow Knights, the Harbingers took up arms alongside their estranged brethren from the Tygaran Alliance. Rina fell in battle fighting First Order forces. The cult had gained another martyr. Tynan avenged her death in battle. Ironically, he ended up fighting alongside Ashana. But ultimately he had to retreat from the planet alongside his comrades when the Galactic Alliance forces withdrew.
Back in the early days of the Long Night, Tynan had voted against closer relations with the Shadow Knights, opposing his commander's decision. But now he decided to carry on her policy. The Emissaries of Illyria, still a young and thus fragile movement, risked splitting once more. Some of his followers wanted him to take over. But Tynan declined. Declaring he was content with leading Illyria's Harbingers into battle, he threw his support behind Tániel Aevaris. Tániel was not a Harbinger or even Force Dead. Instead she was a non-Force-user who had gained a reputation as a radical Illyrian preacher who had been part of the underground on Kaeshana. There was some disconcent among the Harbingers about the Hierophant not being one of their own. But Tynan reasoned that someone who was not Force Dead would have an easier time negotiating with the other Shadow Knight leaders. Some battles were not fought with the sword, after all. Moreover, as the Emissaries' martial arm, the Harbingers would remain a powerful force. He preferred to exert influence from behind the scenes rather than expose himself directly.
Under the joint leadership of Tynan and Tániel, the Death cultists have made a pact with the Kar'zun members of the Shadow Knight nomad fleet. Due to their shared history of persecution, Illyrians and Kar'zun have a history of cooperation. Kar'zun Force-Sensitives are also stoic enough for the wary Force Dead warriors to stomach. The stone people still reject the idea that Illyria might have had a hand in their creation. Relations continue to be poor with the Aspirants, a sect of Ashiran reformists. Believing in the importance of good intel, Tynan continues to gather information on friend and foe alike. This includes creating an index of all known, trained Force-Users in the nomad fleet. For the time being he has committed to the rebel coalition. Whether this stays so remains to be seen.
