Reaver Delgado

{|style="width:100%; font-family:Ebrima;"
|valign="top" class="aaopage"|
 
Captain Reaver Delgado was an and a Marine officer serving under the 22nd Battalion of the . He is notable for his actions in the battles across the Human-Covenant War and mostly in the Battle of Farkeep, becoming well known for sacrificing most of his battalion to save many more civilians. In the final years of his service, he volunteered to become an ODST and worked closely with as well as his battalion's commanding officer, Daniel Lorente.
==Biography==
===Childhood (2501—2519)===
Reaver was born to a middle class Coralian family as the first of two children to Anthony Capriello and Christina Delgado. Anthony worked in a steel mill for the Sinoviet company, while his mother helped maintain farming equipment. Their parents had him very young, at 19 and 17 respectively, and Reaver's sister, Barbara, was born twelve years after him on August 11th, 2513. His parents taught Reaver from an early age to forge his own path and to believe in what he wanted to believe. Reaver was very curious about religion, and when he grew old enough he traveled around Coral, meeting with priests, rabbis, imams and monks. Religion had begun to die out in the UNSC, and he wanted to learn as much about it as he could before it did.
Reaver's sister was one of his best friends as a child, and although the relationship was occasionally shaky between the two, Reaver loved her. The only fight Reaver would ever get into was when his sister turned six and an older boy attempted to hit her for an insult she had said to him. Not knowing the situation, Reaver had ran broken the boys nose when he saw him hitting his sister. Reaver was reprimanded for his action, but him and his sisters relationship tightened.
Throughout his high school career, Reaver made average grades and created a small circle of friends with whom he would grow up with. His best friend, an older girl named Sarah Kovin, would end up joining the UNSC Marine Corps when Reaver was 16 and would convince him to follow her in. From then on, Reaver studied military history, hoping to join the Marines and link up with his friend. When he graduated high school, he realized he wasn't completely sure if he wanted to join as he did two years prior. Reaver had been offered a scholarship to a prestigious college on Earth for religious studies, Reaver was prepared to accept it when his mother was killed in an accident in her mechanics shop, a farming machine she was repairing tipping over and on to her. The very sight of his home made Reaver feel much sadness, and so did the idea of studying religion, something his mother had enjoyed to do with him. A month after her death, he signed up for the Marines.
===Early Military Career===
====Enlistment and Early Military Career (2519—2526)====
Reaver enlisted in the Marine Corps on February 3rd, 2519. He was sent to Coral's local boot camp and trained hard, expecting to be reunited with Kovin. When he passed through boot camp with some difficulty, he was sent to the planet of Kerkobe, a small agricultural world. Although the post was nice and boring, and Reaver was glad to not have to kill, he was not reunited with Kovin as he expected and the two were even further away than before. He would be on the planet for four years, being promoted to lance corporal in the process for not screwing up. He was prepared to leave the service in disappointment when he was ordered to transfer to the urbanized world of Dermont.
He received a message from the now Sergeant Kovin who informed him that she too would be transferred to Dermont. With high hopes, he stayed in the Marines, hoping to meet up with his old friend. He would be stationed on the planet for three months until his request for a transfer to a different company was accepted, and he was moved under the leadership of Kovin. He was brought into his new company on new years day, 2524, and was hoping that military life would become much easier with his old friend leading him.
The two got along as they used to, and although there was grumbling of favoritism, his new company was receptive enough. Meanwhile however, Dermont was slowly falling from a prime example of UNSC colonization and into a shady smugglers den. This culminated in 2524 when the local government, which had been doing everything it could to distance itself from the UNSC, ordered the imprisonment of the local military garrison, effectively sparking the Dermont Rebellion.
====First Dermont Rebellion====
Reaver was on watch at the local military installation when the order to imprison the Marines came through. Several teams of local law enforcement were hoping to sneak into the base and grab the Marines while they slept. While staring over the fortifications, trying his best not to fall back to sleep, Reaver barely spotted movement in the darkness surrounding the fence. After a brief moment of wondering what to do, he decided he was not making it up and radioed in, informing the base of the disturbance.
When other sentries heard the radio message, they began to notice movement as well. When command was given several reports of movement sighted, they ordered for them to be identified. When the Marines on watch attempted to do so, they were fired upon. Only one Marine was killed in the ensuing firefight while seventeen insurgent police officers were gunned down as the base went into full combat alert. Reaver was brought back to his squad and the Marines were deployed into Dermont's capital of Derbent with orders to imprison the local government.
As they approached the city hall, they were attacked by more and more police officers, militiamen and insurgents. By the time the Marines were ordered inside the building, seven Marines had been killed and around fifty six rebels. Around half of the local government was found and captured, while the rest escaped. The rebellion never received popular support, and fell flat after most of the instigators were executed and the government was replaced by a UNSC friendly one, though the new officials were put in for loyalty and not skill, which would come back to harm the UNSC later.
For his actions on the planet and for alerting the base, Reaver was promoted to corporal and put up for a unit citation. Reaver was happy to be closer to his friend and to receive the pay boost, and figured he could live the next few years in peace. However, the escaped remnants of the rebel leaning government would work with other rebels to foment rebellion in the populace with the aid of rebel leaders from off world. Less than a year later, the Second Dermont Rebellion would begin. After the second rebellion, most people would consider them both one huge rebellion, despite the months apart and the completely different situations.
====Leave and Rediscovery of Religion====
Delgado enjoyed his new status as a minor hero and the benefits that came with it, being interviewed by new's reporters, dining with officers and colonial officials and not having to do the crappy duties of a Marine. He also enjoyed spending time with Kovin, who he was now much closer to due to his new rank. After almost a year, he finally got a chance to spend the time on leave he had gathered.
On his leave, he left for home. When he got there, he found the city twice as large as it was before he had gotten there, the planet slowly industrializing as more resources were discovered in the planet's mantle. He was dismayed to see his family's old home had been replaced with factories and refineries, but enjoyed spending time with his family otherwise. The stay with his father was an awkward affair, his father never having been able to cope with the loss of Reaver's mother and constantly bringing it up to Reaver's great discomfort.
Reaver much preferred spending his time with the few friends of his who did not leave for schooling or work off world. At first he enjoyed drinking with old school mates and childhood pals but as his leave stretched on he started to feel disconnected from them. Their problems seemed small, their lives boring, he yearned to go back to the military with people he could relate to, like Kovin.
Before he left, his father imparted him an old cross necklace his mother had kept for all of her life. This reinvigorated Reaver's ideas on religion and he soon found himself once again pondering over old religious texts on scripts in his free time. Reaver repeated the journey around his world he did what seemed like so many years ago, visiting the old churches and mosques and temples he had learnt from as a child.
Half a week before he left, his sister returned from schooling off world. The reunion was awkward at first, but the two soon rekindled their friendship. His sister told him all about how she had decided to be a writer, and after drunkenly telling her about his experiences on Dermont and how distant he felt returning to his home, she offered to write his biography. Reaver didn't take it seriously and made her drop the idea, but his sister would never forget it.
Reaver made his final preparations later. Saying goodbye to his friends and family he left Coral, something inside him told him that he wouldn't be seeing his home for a very long time. Though he left all the same.
====Second Dermont Rebellion====
 thumb|260px|Reaver moves down an alley in Dermont.
Reaver returned back to Dermont on December 21th, eleven days before his birthday and only two weeks before Dermont would be devastated by rebellion.
Reaver spent most of his time on his return socializing with his fellow Marines and trying to become an asset to the platoon, realizing that they were the only people he could truly relate to anymore. Reaver quickly gained popularity among his squad and then his platoon, and within a week he had become good friends with half the company. Two weeks and he was practically a mascot.
For his birthday, the entire company threw him a party. The brass turned a blind eye to the copious amounts of alcohol brought in for the event and Reaver let himself loose for possibly the first time in his life. The entire company partied the whole night away and some of the morning, when he awoke in the afternoon the next day, he recalled nothing besides loud music and drunkenly kissing Kovin. Life finally seemed to be looking up for Reaver, he was considered something of a hero in the UNSC, his company loved him and would protect him to the death, he had befriended his sister and had hopes of something more with Kovin.
Outside of the base he was stationed in however, the situation on the planet was devolving into anarchy. Pro rebel groups were beginning to come out of the woodwork and clash with UNSC forces, and although the local government was not a UNSC puppet, the remains of the former worked in the dark to turn the populace against their overlords. Riots were becoming more and more frequent and the new government managed it horribly. Martial law was declared, a curfew made, and the police began arresting anyone suspected in even carrying rebel sympathies.
The brutal actions only caused a brutal response and on the fifth of January, armed rebels stormed the capital and surrounded the city hall, the UNSC officials were dragged out and lynched in the streets. Local police forces failed to contain the rebellion and were slaughtered by the masses of angry citizens who were being spurred on by the far reaching hands of the old government and their insurgent allies. After a day of fighting, the city armories were captured by rebels and the area around the city fortified.
When UNSC forces finally mobilized, it was decided they would cut straight into the city hall like they had done previously. This ended up being a stupid idea, as the situations between the first and second rebellions were nearly completely different, the Marines failed to realize this in time however and attempted to charge straight into the rebels strongest defenses.
As the Marines approached the rebel defenses, which were built specifically to stop any UNSC advances from the road, their lead and back vehicles were destroyed just as they entered the city. Rebels gunned down the rest of the UNSC forces and after a pitched battle, the Marines desperately withdrew with only 300 of the 700 men who had entered the city. 200 Marines were captured and the rest were dead or missing. Almost half of the 300 who escaped were badly wounded.
Once it was clear that the battle was not going to be as easy for the Marines as before, Reaver and the rest of his regiment were ordered to go on full combat alert along with other UNSC forces arrayed all along the planet. Multiple riots and rebellions began in other population centers but the now fully prepared UNSC forces squashed the meager attempts at revolution.
The Marines of Reaver's regiment, along with two other whole regiments with the backing of several Scorpion platoons, an assortment of various aircraft from Pelicans to Longswords and several artillery batteries surrounded the city. The UNSC attempted to push into the city several times but were pushed back over and over again. The UNSC realized it was no longer fighting disorganized mobs but actual rebels and well trained insurgents, ONI agents were soon seen on the field, investigating Marines and trying to find out exactly how the rebels got instructors into the city without anyone knowing.
The siege would go on for a week, with little action besides the occasional push or shelling. Meanwhile, Reaver attempted to find a way to deal with the feelings he was developing for Kovin despite her being his squad leader, the duties of now being a corporal in a combat zone and being in a combat zone period. At the same time he also tried to find time for his revived faith and the stress of having so little time for any free time to spend with Kovin or read his theology began striking down on Reaver.
 Reaver began getting nervous constantly, itching for a fight. He thought of the eventual combat as his chance to release all the stress, he pictured it as the floodgates being opened and giving him sweet release. After a week, he thought he was finally going to get what he wished. The order was given for the UNSC to push in, HIGHCOM having decided that the siege was terrible for the press and a drain on resources. UNSC commanders on the ground realized that there was no way to go in and fight their way through, and that there was only one way to quickly end it.
On 0600, January 18th, over thirty UNSC artillery pieces surrounding the city, along with the tank platoons stationed there, began to fire upon the city. The bombardment lasted over twenty hours, ten more artillery pieces being brought in from other bases to aid in the bombardment. Aircraft flew sorties constantly, Longswords and Shortswords carpet bombing and Pelicans swooping in and firing off missile pods. At 0300, January 19th, Marines were given the order to advance.
Reaver's platoon, and more notable his team, were ordered to advance into the city on foot, the rubble making it impossible for vehicles to enter. As they entered the city, armed in chemical gear due to the dust and gasses that choked the air from the bombardment, Reaver saw things that would scar him. Piles of bodies, torn remains of everything from grown men to little girls, homes and businesses topped like toys and the constant wailing being the only sound besides their own breath. What few refugees they found ran off at the site of them or begged for mercy. Reaver felt sick.
Finally, after advancing through three miles of the horror, they reached the city hall. They found it in almost as much disrepair as the rest of the city and radioed in that all contacts were gone. The city was slowly filled with Marines, and although he witnessed no combat, Reaver didn't think he could bare to ever see any death again.
The sight of the citizens, abandoned and annihilate by the UNSC would forever give Reaver a sense of failure for the treatment of them and his eagerness to wage war. This, plus his religiousness, led to feelings of pacifism that often conflicted with Reaver's job and would greatly affect his future and the decisions he made during it.
====Rebuilding Dermont====
HIGHCOM was angered about the destruction of Derbent, despite their hand in her bombardment. Several UNSC commanders who led the siege were court marshalled or reshuffled, while others were given the blind eye. Around half of the leaders from the siege ended up losing their posts, and many more would have had it not been for the fact that Dermont was still teetering on the verge of collapse.
Despite the main group of insurgents being wiped out, along with all of the former government and over three hundred thousand civilians, rebellion was still coursing through the planet. Most considered the rebellion over, but rebel groups that slipped past the UNSC or ones who were inspired to take up arms by the slaughter of their countrymen operated across the planet. There was serious fear that there would be a third Dermont rebellion, one that would manage to cause ven more destruction and death.
Marines turned into construction and aid workers during this time. Reaver and the rest of his batallion regularly entered the capital to find bodies, clear rubble or act as a police force. The UNSC attempted to change Dermont's citizens view on the organization, spending billions to change the world back to the paradise it had once seemed. Reaver viewed the aid work as a chance to try and redeem himself and was one of the few members of the battalion who eagerly awaited going into Derbent to help the populace, despite the ill feeling he got working in the city.
Kovin and Reaver began developing their relationship now that the stress of war seemed to be dissipating, though they were more or less forced to do so in private due to the UNSC's opinion on relationships in the chain of command. The few members of his platoon who figured out kept as quiet as they could about it due to their love for Reaver and respect for Kovin as a squad leader, though many complained of the possible favoritism.
Despite UNSC efforts, Derbent was not rebuilding quickly enough to keep it as the capital and looked as if it would never truly recover. The capital of Dermont was moved to the city of Freeridge on the opposite hemisphere, Reaver found the base he was stationed on go from a central point for the UNSC to watch over the capital turn into a minor base with no purpose besides acting as grave keepers for the shell of a city that was Derbent. The population of Derbent that wasn't dead moved out of the city due to the memories of what was lost and the lack of importance the city was now faced with.
Reaver spent another year at Derbent, working to rebuild what was lost and to help the people, but a sense of gloom slowly began to descend on him and the entire battalion. They had killed a city, and everywhere they looked in it, they were met by angry glares and mutters of curses. Reaver felt blessed when the battalion was ordered to withdraw and move to the quiet colony of Tiptop, the UNSC deciding that Derbent no longer warranted the interest to station as many Marines on it as it had in the past.
====Initial Deployment on Tiptop====
 
When Reaver first deployed on Tiptop, him and the entire battalion decided it was the best post they could hope for. The cities were wealthy and beautiful, the environment being protected by Tiptop's many wealthy inhabitants and rivaling any forest found on Earth and maybe anywhere in UNSC space, and the planets oxygen levels were slightly higher than Earths, giving the Marines a boost of energy and good feelings. Tiptop seemed like paradise.
Reaver was happy at the post at Camp Hope, Tiptop's main military post. Though it was called a camp, it was more like a fortress, the base dominating the peak of one of Tiptop's many mountains. The base was nearly impossible to get up unless you took a lift, the paths going up long, winding and dangerous, the base had a view of the entire countryside and more importantly, was less than five miles from the capital. The forests surrounding the mountain were lush and full, and the UNSC kept a watch on all of it.
The UNSC kept such a presence due to the many corporate investors and VIPs who made the planet their home, everyone from the CEO of Jotun to three different UNSC Admirals lived in the capital alone and the planet made the UNSC rich, just from its banking alone. The Marines commonly made patrols through the city, mostly to make the populace feel safe than to ward off any actual rebels, the huge police force handling most of the crime.
Not long after the battalion had been deployed, ONI announced a state of war between humanity and an alien Hegemony known as The Covenant. Reaction from the Marines was mixed, varying anywhere from worry to denial. Life continued on however, the Marines still living as if they had no reason to worry about anything. After six months of peace on Tiptop, Reaver once again found himself in the middle of war.
===Human-Covenant War and Last Days in the Marine Corps (2528-2543)===
====Battle of Saramede====
For his long service in the corps and the friendship he had made with his superiors, Reaver was promoted to the rank of sergeant. Though this sometimes made it harder to interact with Kovin on a personal level, and for them to hide their relationship from the brass, he appreciated the pay increase and the responsibility that came with the job. He also duly realized that he may be in the military for life.
The day after he was assigned to his new squad, the local UNSC garrison got word that the small town of Saramede, mostly filled with vacation homes, had gone dark. The town which was a half hour out from the capital had mysteriously lost all connections to the outside world, local militia units who went to investigate went missing as well. Fort Hope, which was the closest military base to the town was awakened in the middle of the night to go investigate.
Reaver and the rest of his platoon were sent out to investigate, being dropped off a mile out of the town with a full complement of Warthogs. As they drove through the streets they found them to be lifeless, scorch marks clear on the walls, burnt frames of cars and corpses laying cold on the ground. As they got closer to the city center, the bodies seemed to become more common, as well as the wanton destruction. In places, entire buildings were toppled, the Marines were confused on the nature of the wounds, which were all terrible burns yet no bullet wounds.
As they approached the center of the town, a huge park, Reaver's lieutenant ordered the squads to all separate in order to clear more ground. One squad would go through the park and two would go around, Reaver's squad was ordered to go to the left of the park and through some of the residential neighborhoods that filled half the town. The newly made sergeant ordered his squad to fan out and to push through as quickly as possible, as to not be left behind by the other Marines.
The squad made it halfway through the neighborhood, the Marines walking alongside Warthogs due to fear of anti tank weapons, when they were fired upon by Covenant forces. Reaver's squad was entirely on foot and leading the convoy, and immediately took heavy losses from walking straight into the Covenant ambush. Wraiths in the town began firing, destroying the convoy of Warthogs and plasma cannons ripped the infantry to shreds. In the park and on the other side, the other Marine elements were hit hard by the Covenant assault.
 Grunts managed to overrun the meager defensive positions the Marines set up while Jackals took down any Marine who bothered peaking his head out of cover, all the while the Wraiths and plasma cannons continued their bombardment. Somehow still alive, Reaver began trying to reorganized his men for a fighting retreat.
Reaver managed to miraculously rally his squad and pushed through the Covenant, towards the rally point at the end of the park, hoping that the rest of the platoon would make it there as well. During the fighting, Reaver dragged a Marine who had been dying in the open into cover, while being continuously fired upon, and kept him alive until a corpsman reached them. This would earn him a Silver Star once the battle was over.
When Reaver finally reached the rally point with a third of his squad, he met up with Kovin who had been taking the other side of the park. Half of her squad was missing, and the lieutenant had gone dark just after the ambushes began. Kovin and Reaver attempted to reorganize the platoon and hold their position until any remnants of the other squad could get to them, but were unable to hold against mounting Covenant opposition in the town and were forced to withdraw. The two squads mounted the few Warthogs they had left and sped out of the town, hoping to outrun Covenant mortars.
The Covenant attempted to bar them from leaving, placing barricades along all the major entrances to the town and surrounding it with troops, believing the Marines sent to the town to be the majority of military on the planet. Reaver and Kovin were nearly stopped and taken out when the Pelicans who had dropped them off reached them, firing their missile pods into the barricades and allowing the convoy to escape the town. The Pelicans quickly picked them up and flew them back to Camp Hope, where the situation was quickly deteriorating.
====Tiptop Campaign====
UNSC ships in orbit soon discovered a cloaked Covenant scout which had unloaded the first wave, the ship was quickly wiped out by the four frigates which were orbiting the planet. However, a Covenant fleet jumped into orbit not long after and destroyed the meager defenses. Covenant troops quickly deployed to the ground and began wiping out the local population centers while the UNSC desperately tried to evacuate the civilians to the capital.
No one in the UNSC knew why the Covenant were not simply glassing the planet as they had in times past, but there was never time to consider why they seemed to be searching for something on the planet. Camp Hope became a refugee center as civilians retreated from the capital and tried to find shelter in the military base. Meanwhile, Reaver and his battalion were ordered to set up defenses in the capital of Harmonie in order to prepare for the inevitable Covenant assault.
Reaver's platoon were tasked with beginning the evacuation of the civilian populace to evacuation centers in the city where the planet's populace were being sent. Pelicans and any vessel the UNSC managed to commandeer flew to almost every city on the planet in order to save as many civilians as possible from the encroaching Covenant forces. Reaver saw the evacuation as a chance for him to find redemption for the siege of Derbent, and went about his work with gusto.
During the evacuation, Reaver evacuated hundreds, including the family of Admiral Freemont who had been living in their large summer home in the wealthiest area of Harmonie. The evacuation went smoothly at first, the civilians patiently being ferried to the nearby military base but quickly went badly as the Covenant began assaulting the capital. The Marines had set up a ring of defenses around the capital with smaller positions on the roads to the military base, and were much more prepared than the Covenant expected. The Covenant were smashed in their first and second wave, with some on the UNSC side thinking they should even go on the counter attack, the Marines refused however and remained in their positions.
However, when the Covenant reorganized and came back the third time, the marines were hit much harder. The Covenant managed to break through UNSC lines and begin pushing at the evacuation site in the third wave, and were hardly thrown back by a marine push which found nearly a quarter of the marine force killed. Delgado was still evacuating civilians the entire time, going door to door and dragging out anyone he found to waiting Warthogs. The Covenant did not wait for the marines to reorganize however, and tore through the defenders before they could rebuild their defenses. The UNSC forces hadn't expected the Covenant to be able to reorganize so quickly and were taken by surprise as they were thrown back.
Reaver was still evacuating apartments when the fourth wave of Covenant destroyed the UNSC presence and found himself surrounded by Covenant forces. Reaver and his squad did not realize their situation and fired at the approaching Covenant instead of hiding, and soon found themselves being fired upon from every side of the building as their support disappeared. To add to the confusion, the civilians panicked and began running out or around the building, getting in the way of the marines and causing many more casualties than there needed to be.
The Covenant assaulted the building but Reaver, for the second time in a day, rallied his men against all odds. The Covenant sent wave after wave of troops at the building and were pushed back by the marines, despite the mounting losses on the human side. While his men held off the horde of Covenant infantry, Reaver and some of his men searched for a way out of the building, they were unsuccessful, but were rather ironically saved when the Covenant began shelling the area with Wraith mortars.
The bombardment killed several marines, but also caused part of the street around the building to collapse into the sewer system below. Reaver saw the opportunity and quickly sent his men down the hole, leading a fireteam to hold off the Covenant as the few remaining civilians and marines retreated. As the fireteam fell back, Reaver ordered the sewer entrance destroyed. C12 was planted on key supports and as the humans made it into the tunnel, the charges were detonated. The tunnel collapsed behind the survivors of the squad, and they made their way towards the outskirts of the city in complete darkness.
When he reached an exit to the sewer, the city had more or less fallen completely and the evacuation was coming to an end. The final Pelicans were leaving the base when Reaver radioed in his situation, and was narrowly saved by one of the pilots who managed to evade Covenant fire in order to save the fireteam. They were the last elements of the UNSC military left on the planet.
====Later Service and PTSD====
Reaver's life was thereafter rather calm and quiet as the Marines were reorganized and the many empty spots were filled. Kovin had just narrowly survived the battle to Reaver's infinite relief and the two attempted to continue their relationship, but a rift slowly formed between them as Reaver found himself unable to cope with the number of men he had lost. Reaver's platoon alone had been nearly completely destroyed, few more than his own team surviving, and Reaver couldn't accept the new Marines as he had the old ones, waking up to nightmares of his fallen comrades every night.
Despite this, Reaver was considered for a promotion to lieutenant due to his actions on Tiptop, he was also given a Silver Star. However, a month after the Tiptop Campaign, one of Reaver's squad mates noticed the differences in the sergeant and the nervous tendencies he was developing and redirected him to a therapist. Reaver was diagnosed with PTSD and was put on medication to help fight the disorder. However, the considerations on his promotion ended and Reaver would stay a sergeant for much longer.
Reaver's mood deteriorated further with the drugs, despite them helping him sleep and move on, and when he wasn't his normal solemn self he was easily angered and vexed. This further strained his relationship with Kovin and six months later, Kovin was transferred away from the unit. She broke off relations with Reaver shortly before this and Reaver found himself spiraling into depression as he found himself suddenly isolated.
The older members of the company who had initially considered Reaver their friend were becoming fewer and fewer as they died in action or were transferred out and the new Marines had never experienced a non moody and depressed Reaver. Reaver's list of friends shortened by the day, and a year later he was normally left alone and ignored by his unit.
===Induction Into Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and Final Campaigns (2543—2549)===
====Battle of Arcadia====
==Traits==
===Skills and Abilities===
===Personality===
===Relationships===
===Quotes===
==Service Details==
===Career Service Vitae===
===Awards and Decorations===