Arandar Sùrion

"A warrior and a diplomat, a steadfast ally to the virtues of freedom and peace. He is ready to give everything to secure these for others."
Arandar Sùrion is an Elvaan noble of Clan Sùrion, serving as the Alliance Captain of the Vigil station and the Core representative to the Eckari peoples. He is elevated to the position of Daen after the death of his father, Bardendàl Sùrion, though he delegates the role to that of his sister, Eria Sùrion. Chivalrous and noble of spirit, Arandar holds true to the Seven Core Values of the Core Alliance and works hard to help protect Aeos from internal and external threats. While generally considered aloof and practical, Arandar is a resourceful warrior, experienced diplomat, and an intuitive friend to those he aligns with. He keeps to the faith of the Ìlthali Covenant and aligns with the Harath political movement, valuing personal liberties, freedom of form and expression, and light militant doctrine for defensive purposes only. His part in the Great War shaped him heavily and he retains a degree of guilt and psychological scars from his time in war, relying solely on mental discipline in order to remain functioning.
== Appearance ==
A young Elvaan man in his young forties, Arandar has long, soft raven black hair that he usually keeps in an elegant ponytail or worn down on his shoulders. His eyes have sea blue colored irises and black schlera. His skin is colored a dark sea blue, with a prominent Elvaan curved, horn-like crest on his head and plate-like cartilage covering his body from his shoulders down to his legs. His sepra, or "Soul Gem", rests on the center of his forehead and is colored a vibrant yellow matching his eyes. His facial features are considered masculine for an Elvaan, with a strong jaw, chiseled nose, and debonair brows. Sharp pigmented markings, or curupra, line his body from his head down to his legs.
He is well-fit and sports a lean but strong build after years of rigorous training. Scars decorate parts of his body - notable a faded stab wound on his left shoulder, a small cut on the back of his right forearm, and two faded stab wounds on his left side close to his ribs. All of these past wounds he sustained from previous conflicts during the Great War. While described as having a very stern and serious disposition, Arandar can prove to be disarmingly friendly and courteous to others, providing a pleasant smile and a gentle tone when speaking to friends and allies. To enemies and formal occasions, however, he can prove firm and rigid, allowing his commanding aura to act as its own wall of defense against the hostile or predatory.
His voice is described as somewhat deep but still retaining his Elvaan youth, though years away from his homeworld has caused him to discard his native accent though not entirely. His accent often surfaces when he is speaking his native tongue or is agitated, as well as when he speaks with other Elvaan for long periods of time. His pointed ears, with their twenty muscles, can raise and lower and filter out background noise to pinpoint more direct ones. These ears, like all Elvaan, tend to also move to reflect Arandar's mood, raising when excited, alarmed, angered, or aroused and lowering when scared, sad, depressed, or embarrassed.
During the Great War, he often wore thin but rich cloth raiments colored sea blue and jade green with a dark purple sash and black sandals and cloth foot coverings with intricate straps around his leg up to his calves. The cloth of his raiment had long coattails that run down to the back of his calves and, when in combat, he would wear a thin, silvery plate beneath the robe. As Commander of the Vigil station, he wears a black tunic with a Command Pin of an Alliance Fleet Commander as his work uniform while his off-duty garb is a simple Elvaan dress shirt and pants coupled with snug shoes and socks, though in his cabin he keeps a soft night robe and sleeping trunks. While his eye sight is considered excellent, he is forced to use reading glasses when studying small print or reading difficult handwriting or that of other languages he is loosely familiar with.
== Personality ==
"There is not a man more noble in the galaxy than Arandar Sùrion." -Aedan Woods regarding Arandar.
Arandar is a man who values personal liberty and freedom, peace between peoples, and understanding others above all else. This being said, he does not abide by tyrants, bullies, and opportunists. He fought in the Great War in order to protect the various people in the Core from the wrath of the Orks and the tyranny of the Heskra.
Born to the wealthy Clan Sùrion, Arandar has striven to live up to his noble roots and bring honor to his family name. The recent death of his father elevated Arandar to the position of Daen of the family, a post he was not ready for or feels he has earned. He takes his duties very seriously and rarely finds time for relaxation, much to the chagrin of his family who feel he tends to overwork himself.
Arandar does not share the xenophobia that plagues much of the Elvaan nobility, seeing it as the byproduct of the Great War and elitist Vaan being in power. He advocates better relations with the rest of the galaxy, citing the Prime Station as an example of what different races can achieve when they work together. To this end, he is very well learned about different races in the Core and Reach, and has even learned multiple languages in preparation of ambassadorial work.
A staunch unifist, Arandar believes firmly in the virtues and ideals that the Core Alliance was founded on and fights hard for the equality and liberty of every member of every race. That in mind, however, Arandar does harbor a degree of distrust and animosity toward the Orgrokkì for their past mistreatment of the Vaan as well as the Heskra for their role in the Great War. Nonetheless, he reserves open judgement on individuals based on their merits, values, and actions. With a deep respect for different cultures and beliefs, Arandar has studied many numerous races' societies and cultures and is fluent in several languages of both the Core and the Reach.
While protective over Irindal and loving toward his mothers, Arandar has a strained relationship with his father and sister, the two feeling loyalty to Elvala and one's own Vaas is integral while Arandar prefers to be more proactive in his efforts of bettering relations with other peoples. While he has not seen eye-to-eye with his father and sister over different matters, including a political marriage for Arandar and Irindal, Aran always asserts that they love one another at the end of the day.
An avid fan of botany, one of Arandar's favorite pastimes has been growing different exotic plants and keeping them in his ships and homes, giving strict orders to servants to keep his plants properly watered. When one dies while he is away, he has been known to quietly grieve for the loss before taking on a new one. He assigns them each fantastical old Elvaan names such as Laetherticarn and Authraeos. His favorite flower, a rare golden Velseed he has named Lord Numenros after a famous inventor and warrior from Elvala's founding years, is kept in Arandar's quarters on board the Vigil.
Preferring to solve matters with words rather than blades, Arandar is not without a sense of appreciation for the thrill of battle. He sees life as a precious thing not to be expended without due cause, such as out of self-defense or to preserve the lives of the innocent. He does not deny to his security chief, Adan'krel, that he enjoys the thrill and challenge of combat and the process for defeating a difficult opponent but that the "excitement ends there." Part of his reason for forming the Vigilants was to seek out and combat the threats to Aeos' people, but he asserts that their mission is one of peace and preservation, not war.
While respectful of the sect of Elvaan who believe in Shinthaeraeon, or "Shin" - the belief in pragmatism at the cost of one's passions and emotions - Arandar does not subscribe to it, citing his passions as being the fuel to his goals and the will to achieve them. Valathor Raam, a Nirvaan opponent of Arandar's, notes that the latter would have made an excellent Nirvaan. Instead, Arandar pays homage to Jundthoros, or "Jund", a religion paying homage to the sister gods Anoa and Mara, goddesses of the twin moons of Thyràsal, with the sun god, Damros, as their husband.
== History ==
Born to the wealthy Vaas Sùrion during the spring of Ethlas - the third month of the Elvaan calendar - to Daen Bardendàl Sùrion and his first wife, Arathi Sùrion, Arandar was described as a child burning with curiosity about the world around him, who would often disobey his parents and roam around the sylvan woods at night looking for lightworms in the dirt. He recalled loving his family dearly, and adoring his new mother, Ilànya, after her marriage to Bardendàl.
== Weapons and Equipment ==
"This is Thane, the Vynblade of my clan. From the time it was forged by Daen Castallus to when it was passed to my father, it has defended Vaardenvale. To prove worthy to own it is a daunting enough feat alone." -Arandar
*Thane - The ancestral Vynblade of Vaas Sùrion, Thane is a straight Elvaan sword with a cherry wood pommel and the guard in the shape of a firebark krettle. The blade has a slit in the center for catching other swords in a lock and allowing for a quick disarm. It is kept in a green Velwood scabbard with a black leather strap for carrying.
*Customized Zetyran-22 carbine rifle - The personal, favored weapon Arandar's for rifle use, his has been modified at length and is made from kisoni iron and fiberglass for the grip. Arandar fitted his with a recoil pad, barrel guard, and a medium Trychlon scope capable of tracking heat signatures from up to fifty yards away. It can fire Supara or Juvor gas, with a cartridge holding up to one-hundred and twenty shots and overheating after fifteen. It fires in three-shot bursts but can be overloaded to fire straight from the power cell which would make the weapon fully automatic but overheat quickly, only being able to fire off roughly fifty. Aran generally disfavors firing in this manner due to its lethality and general danger of suffering permanent damage and even exploding.
== Ships ==
== Skills and Abilities ==
=== Martial Training ===
*Twin-Chain Taichin - A twin-chain of the Taichin arts of Saleo, Arandar is proficient in the Sun and Kuan styles emphasizing leading enemies and redirective tactics to achieve victory. He lacks the Saleluki physiology for the other chains of Taichin.
*Barruk - Arandar has studied the barruk style of defensive Kandarrian fighting and implements it in his fights against opponents his size. By paying close attention to an opponent's shoulders, he can roughly predict their movements and respond appropriately. He has been taught by former Kandarrian Storm Commando leader Ord'krel Byros.
*Arlian Fi-Koh - While not formally trained in the Arlian Fi-Koh style, Arandar is familiar enough in its movements and practice that he can deduce Scourge as using it during one of their fights and react accordingly. He acknowledges that he lacks the light weight and stamina required to perform many Fi-Koh maneuvers but knows the central weaknesses of the style enough to effectively counter it.
"To fight an Orgrokkì Blood Raider, one needs a single advantage to maintain - distance." -Arandar counseling Matthew Woods on fighting Orks.
*Chee-Hukk - Having fought extensively against Ork Blood Raiders during the Great War, Aran has studied and learned their Chee-Hukk style of combat and devised ways of countering it - namely to reduce the Orks' proximity to himself and use range to one's advantage. Arandar has witnessed many skilled Elvaan warriors be cut down by Ork strength, and contests that defeating them means not engaging in a contest of melee skill but keeping one's smarts and staying out of their weapon's ranges.
=== Martial Weapons Training ===
=== Ranged Weapons Training ===
*Blaster Pistol Training - Trained specifically in the Elvalan Cavalry's deneth-an finír or "Rear-Hand Style" of gunfighting, Arandar keeps his blasts holstered at each side of his hips with the grips facing out. Trained to be able to draw and fire accurately within the span of a second, Aran explains that he spent countless months perfecting his draw and aim to where he can perform quick and accurate shots faster than the human eye can follow his movements.
*Blaster Rifle Training - Favoring the lightweight and versatile Zetyran-22 carbine rifle, with its fast fire right and wide range of customization options, Arandar is trained to fight with several Elvaan, Kandarrian, and Tyranian blaster rifles. He displays distaste for the crude thunder-sticks of the Orks, the destructive Disurptors of the Heskra, and the costly firearms of the humans.
== Quotes by Arandar ==
== Quotes about Arandar ==
== Trivia ==
Category:Characters