Ragna Aasen

Ragna Aasen, born Priscilla Harding, was an Insurrectionist fighter who was active during the and later frontier wars. Ragna was the daughter of a high-ranking magistrate. The hapless girl was kidnapped by a rebel terror cell hoping to blackmail her father but was spared execution by the intervention of the storied Insurrectionist commander Redmond Venter. Venter gave the girl a new name and trained her as one of his "Bloodhounds": child soldiers used as scouts, saboteurs, and assassins in Venter's Second Vanguard. Ragna survived Venter's brutal tutelage and emerged indoctrinated and doggedly loyal to the Insurrectionist cause. On the eve of the Created Crisis, the UNSC annihilated the Second Vanguard on . Ragna and a handful of survivors escaped to join the rogue Kru'desh Legion under the command of Simon Venter, their commander's adopted son and erstwhile protégé. Ragna fought with distinction during the legion's ensuing campaigns against the Created and proved herself an able pilot in Venter's budding exoskeletal assault corps. Ragna formed a strange friendship with commando Andra-D054 during the Kru'desh Legion's "long march" across Archangel's Rest.
==Biography==
===Childhood===
Priscilla Harding was born in 2545 on the prosperous colony . Her mother Adeline was the chair of artificial intelligence studies at the University of Adruvon while her father Reginald served as a high-ranking magistrate within Harrow's colonial administration. The Hardings' celebrated positions within Harrow's upper crust made the family very wealthy and Priscilla enjoyed a privileged upbringing. Adeline's connections allowed the Hardings to enroll Priscilla in the prestigious Colonial Youth Education Program; AI functionaries within the program drew up a comprehensive "educational career plan" charting Priscilla's ascent through Harrow's elite institutions even as the devastated the colonial network. Harrow sported a highly developed ecology of imported wildlife and the local colonists enjoyed a thriving sporting culture. Reginald often took time away from his work to take Priscilla on long wilderness hunting expeditions. Priscilla was far more enthusiastic about outdoor activities than her carefully curated school curriculum. Under Reginald's careful supervision Priscilla grew comfortable handling firearms and navigating Harrow's hunting trails. When Priscilla killed her first buck at the age of seven, Reginald practically burst with pride.
In 2554 conflict finally shattered Harrow's secluded peace. Emboldened by the 's slow recovery in the wake of the Human-Covenant War, groups such as the and the New Colonial Alliance installed networks of saboteurs and advance combat elements to bolster Harrow's burgeoning independence movement. The secessionists launched widespread disruption campaigns against Harrow's colonial government, assassinating high ranking officials and suborning others. Reginald's position within the judicial system made him a prime target for these efforts. The rebels raided Priscilla's school, abducting her and several other children. The resistance group hoped to use the children as hostages to coerce their parents' cooperation. Instead, Reginald helped a team of execute a rescue operation to free the kidnapped children. The Marshals were intercepted and destroyed by Second Vanguard under the command of Redmond Venter. Reginald's complicity in the botched raid was discovered and the Insurrectionists planned to execute Priscilla in retaliation. Venter saved the terrified Priscilla, taking her into his custody and vowing to mold the spoiled colonial girl into a loyal soldier of the colonial independence movement. Venter and the Second Vanguard departed Harrow shortly thereafter, taking Priscilla from the only home she had ever known. Priscilla never saw Reginald or Adeline again.
===The Insurrection===
Now a captive of the Second Vanguard, Priscilla was taken to a secluded URF training camp on . There the Insurrectionists eroded the girl's old "colonial" identity. She was renamed "Ragna Aasen" and forbidden from using her old name or referring to her past identity. Second Vanguard soldiers taught her Polish, a common language among their ranks, and refused to respond to anything spoken in English, her native language. "Ragna" was subjected to daily streams of propaganda inculcating her in the ideology of planetary independence. Denied food if she did not cooperate, the exhausted Ragna began seeking the approval of any rebel soldier who offered her praise and affection. Ragna formed a particular bond with Jens Aasen, her namesake and chief instructor. After three weeks of the Second Vanguard's indoctrination program, Ragna embraced her new identity within the independence movement.
Once he was satisfied with Ragna's re-education, Redmond Venter incorporated her into his Bloodhound training program. Modeled on Venter's own experiences in conditioning programs as well as intelligence gathered on training philosophies, the Bloodhounds were children—usually war orphans—recruited from across the colonies and trained as spies, saboteurs, and guerilla fighters. The other Bloodhounds resented and shunned Ragna for her Inner Colony background. Ragna was eager to prove her commitment to the rebel cause and threw herself into the harsh training with an almost fanatical fervor. She earned Venter's approval as one of the most committed and aggressive fighters in his training program. Months of harsh training on Gilgamesh molded the wilderness-loving girl from Harrow into a fierce warrior dedicated to Venter's bloody role in the ongoing war for colonial independence.
Ragna's training was quickly put to the test. The Second Vanguard served as one of the URF's elite combat unit's; Venter's near-mythical reputation among Insurrectionist cells made him a morale-boosting force multiplier in insurgent operations against UNSC and colonial administration forces. Ragna and her fellow Bloodhounds were inserted into civilian populations where rebel operatives used the children to carry messages, scout enemy positions, and sabotage local infrastructure. Ever eager to prove her loyalty, Ragna acclimated quickly to the harsh life set before her in secession struggles across the frontier. On she helped the Second Vanguard bomb pro-Earth rallies and target prominent officials―not unlike the tactics that had stripped her from her own family. Venter helped rebel forces draw UNSC peacekeeping forces into a protracted ground war in Terceira's verdant archipelagos. Ragna's first confirmed kill was a colonial tactical response trooper picked off from long range during the fighting. Impressed by Ragna's marksmanship, Venter later used the young Bloodhound to assassinate the regional governor. Despite the Vanguard's efforts they were forced to flee Terceira after the UNSC intensified its counter-insurgency efforts. Jens Aasen, Ragna's namesake, handler, and mentor, was killed during the fighting.
Ragna moved from world to world across the galactic frontier as the Second Vanguard mobilized to assist one rebellion after another. Venter's troops were better armed and equipped than most rebel organizations; the commander owed this windfall to his ties with the Syndicate criminal network. The Vanguard was often deployed as mercenaries to further the Syndicate's interests across the colonies. Ragna resented working alongside criminals but her loyalty to Venter never wavered. Service with the Syndicate exposed Ragna to the post-Covenant galaxy's vibrant blend of species and technology. She was shocked to encounter aliens for the first time when the Second Vanguard worked with and mercenaries. Syndicate contracts often pitted Venter and his troops against Covenant remnant gangs and rival criminal networks. On Ragna experienced mechanized combat for the first time when she piloted a in support of a Second Vanguard raid. The young rebel thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The Second Vanguard's struggle was an endless displacement from planet to planet in the expanding struggle for colonial independence. Venter's aggressive tactics inflicted heavy casualties upon UNSC forces but always invited brutal reprisals that often undid the Vanguard's hard-fought efforts. Ragna survived battle after battle, passionate in her loyalty to Venter and the colonial cause. She forged deep bonds with her fellow fighters, including Mohsin Shah, Venter's youngest lieutenant, and Job Okafo, a veteran weapon master. Ragna also enjoyed an adolescent and unsanctioned relationship with fellow Bloodhound Troy Palski that ended with Troy's death on . The fighting took a heavy toll on the Second Vanguard as the UNSC adapted to rebel tactics. Before long Ragna was one of the few remaining Bloodhounds and was herself tasked with training young Vanguard recruits.
Ragna first encountered the renegade Spartan Simon-G294 in 2557. Simon had deserted the UNSC to serve as Venter's chief agent but had betrayed Venter and the rebel cause well before Ragna's own "recruitment." Venter dispatched the Second Vanguard to kill Simon and Gavin Dunn, another Insurrectionist deserter. The Vanguard tracked Dunn's ship, the Chancer V to Fell Justice but their ambush was cut short when the Syndicate used its influence to shield the smuggling crew from further retaliation. The Second Vanguard redeployed to where Ragna survived yet another protracted campaign against UNSC forces. She served directly under Mohsin Shah during much of the fighting on Coral. Mohsin and Ragna saved each others' lives several times over on Coral, particularly when Venter dispatched them to bomb a colonial power station.
===The Created Crisis===
Ragna continued serving loyally under Venter's command as fighting across the frontier intensified. The Second Vanguard was pitted against , alien mercenaries, and even fellow Insurrectionists. Ideological conflicts within the colonial independence movement confused and demoralized Ragna. She clung more than ever to her deep personal loyalty to Venter and her comrades in the Second Vanguard. In 2559 the URF's leadership dispatched the Vanguard to the independent world of . Venter had orders to signal the Insurrection's severing of ties with the Syndicate by dismantling the criminal network on Talitsa and transforming the planet into a rebel stronghold. The Second Vanguard invaded Talitsa in force and Ragna participated in a surgical operation to capture the capital city of . Venter installed himself as revolutionary governor and bloodily purged the corrupt Syndicate-dominated city government. Ragna served in "recruitment squads" that press-ganged the city's population into Insurrectionist service. Any who resisted Venter's rule were arrested and summarily executed. After serving on several firing squads Ragna was plagued by guilt and doubted the rebel cause for the first time since her re-education.
Ragna's unwanted doubts were roughly set aside when the UNSC launched a massive assault on Talitsa. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Second Vanguard's defenses were swiftly overrun. Ragna was one of the few survivors. Alongside Mohsin she rescued the badly wounded Venter and regrouped with rebel forces in Irbit to wage a desperate guerilla campaign against the UNSC. This suicidal resistance was interrupted by the onset of the . Massive seized control of the planet and disgorged an occupying force of automatons. Most of Taltisa's population submitted to the new Created regime under the watchful eye of an AI overseer named Malekh. Ragna and the Second Vanguard survivors took shelter with Judith Ives, an old associate of Venter's. With their commander barely clinging to life, Ragna and the others continued to mount guerilla attacks on Created forces as the revived reshaped the galaxy beyond.
The Created occupation stretched on into months. Promethean armigers killed many rebels but Ragna and the rest of the Second Vanguard survivors fought on, terrified by the prospect of captivity and re-education at the hands of the Created. The doomed resistance was interrupted by the arrival of Simon-G294, who smuggled himself onto Talitsa and tracked down the Vanguard's hideout. Ragna was present in Judith's apartment during Simon's stunning reconciliation with Venter. The ailing commander not only pardoned the traitor but adopted him as his own son. A UNSC fleet launched a daring assault on Talitsa soon after and plunged the planet into chaos. Ragna retreated with the rest of the Second Vanguard in an effort to flee the planet in the confusion. The Created and their allies handily destroyed the UNSC forces but the tide of battle turned with the arrival of the Fleet of Cleansing Fire led by the Sangheili warlord Shinsu 'Refum. Warriors of the Kru'desh Legion arrived to rescue Simon and with him the other Second Vanguard survivors. Redmond Venter himself was captured and executed by Created agents during the fighting. Ragna, Mohsin, and the others were shocked to find themselves aboard the battlecruiser Soul Ascension as the Kru'desh loyally reinstated "Simon Venter" as their commander.
===The Kru'desh Legion===
Even as Ragna grieved for the man who had defined her life, Redmond Venter's successor dragged her further into the galactic maelstrom. Simon Venter incorporated the reluctant Second Vanguard survivors into the Kru'desh Legion. Ragna and the others struggled to adapt to their alien surroundings as Simon rejoined the Fleet of Cleansing Fire and swore allegiance to Shinsu 'Refum. The Sangheili warlord dispatched the Soul Ascension to Gilgamesh in order to sway the remnants of the United Rebel Front to his cause. UNSC survivors working with Shinsu 'Refum's Cleansing Blade coerced Simon into also taking on a young Spartan-III named Andra-D054 along on the Gilgamesh operation. Ragna was deeply suspicious—and somewhat jealous—of an augmented Spartan agent so close to her own age. She and the rest of the Second Vanguard assisted Simon's effort to humiliate the unwanted spy by branding Andra with Insurrectionist tattoos.
Ragna was present at the infamous Gilgamesh Summit. There, Simon's machinations revealed that the URF leadership had knowingly sent the Second Vanguard to its destruction on Talitsa. Ragna's faith in the broader colonial independence movement was forever shaken by this treachery. She resolved to devote herself to Venter's memory through loyalty to his successor. When Simon exposed a plot by some of the URF's leadership to submit to Created rule, Ragna eagerly joined the battle to destroy the would-be collaborators. URF fighters who survived the bloody infighting were incorporated into the Kru'desh, swelling the legion's human ranks further. Simon and the Kru'desh also laid claim to the URF's military stockpiles. Among the hoarded weaponry were several platoons of . Ragna's smaller size made her an ideal pilot candidate for the bipedal war machines. As the re-forged Kru'desh looted Gilgamesh, Ragna familiarized herself with Cyclops controls and quickly proved a capable combat pilot. The Kru'desh Legion was promptly reorganized to accommodate its now fully half-human crew. Mohsin was promoted to the rank of captain and became the foremost human executive officer in the legion. Meanwhile, the Second Vanguard remnants became "Vanguard Squad"—a unit that expanded to include Andra-D054. Much to Ragna's chagrin, Simon commissioned Andra as an officer in his legion; "Lieutenant Kearsarge" now outranked Ragna.
After the success at Gilgamesh, Simon threw the Kru'desh into a desperate hunt for the so-called "Silent Garden." Shinsu 'Refum believed that this conduit to the would give his fleet an edge over the Created. Ragna knew little of the details behind this latest campaign. She honed her skills at the helm of a Cyclops during the Battle of Le Havre, where the Kru'desh besieged and conquered a Forerunner arcology dome. The Soul Ascension regrouped with the Fleet of Cleansing Fire only to be assigned to a task force assaulting the key Created-allied world of Archangel's Rest. Disaster struck when the the Created-controlled ambushed the Cleansing Flame ships over the planet's moon. Most of the task force was destroyed during the engagement and the Soul Ascension crashed down in the planet's vast snow fields. Ragna survived the crash landing and joined the rest of the legion in a desperate overland march on the Baran Keep, stronghold of the Created collaborators. During what became known among the Kru'desh as "the Long March," Ragna bonded with Andra and reluctantly came to think of the Spartan as a friend. Buffeted by seasonal blizzards and beset by enemy raiding parties, the Kru'desh column ground to a halt five kilometers from the target keep.
Simon refused Created entreaties to surrender and instead launched the Kru'desh into a bloody battle against armies of Sangheili and Jiralhanae collaborators. During the days of chaotic fighting that ensued Ragna distinguished herself supporting Vanguard Squad from behind the controls of her Cyclops. At the height of the battle Ragna and Andra joined a desperate move to counter an enemy flanking maneuver. In a night of frigid close combat Ragna and her fellow legionnaires destroyed a Jiralhanae armored column. Simon's gambit paid off when the repaired Soul Ascension arrived to turn the tides of battle in the Kru'desh Legion's favor. During the route and destruction of the Created forces Ragna killed Akoni-D284, a rogue Spartan in league with the Created. The Kru'desh stormed the Baran Keep and claimed victory after nearly a week of grueling combat.
Victory celebrations quickly proved premature. The Silent Garden node hidden beneath the Baran Keep proved to be a false hope. Worse, news soon arrived that Shinsu 'Refum and his entire fleet had been destroyed by the Created. Ragna was stunned by this turn of events but quickly recovered when Simon rallied the Kru'desh to follow him in an assault on the mobile fortress Asphodel Meadows—a desperate effort to rescue survivors from the Fleet of Cleansing Fire. The Kru'desh abandoned their hard-won prize but the intense fighting at Archangel's Rest became a turning point for Ragna and the other legionnaires: despite their deep-seated differences, human and Sangheili legionnaires had come together to win against all odds. The Soul Ascension arrived at the sight of her mother fleet's destruction and the Kru'desh engaged Created forces in the shadow of a massive Forerunner shield world. Ragna joined the boarding action against Asphodel Meadows and piloted her Cyclops in EVA combat for the first time. Ragna and Moshin helped secure an escape route from the doomed station and retreated as Asphodel Meadows crumbled around them. The Soul Ascension limped away victorious once more, her hull crammed with rebels, ex-Covenant warriors, and UNSC survivors. Ragna was promoted to the rank of sergeant in the aftermath of the fighting and threw herself into her new role as a Kru'desh legionnaire as the recovering legion hid from the Created at the galaxy's edge.
==Personality==
Even as a young girl Ragna was impulsive and energetic, far more at home in the outdoors and working with her hands than in the academic environment her parents planned for her. Ragna was an expressive and outgoing girl who worked hard to please her parents and live up to their high expectations for her. These traits were exploited and warped by the Insurrection during Ragna's harsh "re-education." The young soldier who emerged from Redmond Venter's harsh training was a tenacious fighter deeply committed to her newfound cause. Brash, insecure, and scarred by her indoctrination, Ragna butted heads with anyone who questioned her loyalty and commitment to the cause of colonial independence. Largely untutored in the finer points of colonial independence theory, Ragna proved more loyal to Venter and her comrades-in-arms than to any wider political ideology. The loss of so many friends during the Second Vanguard's grueling frontier wars only deepened Ragna's devotion to Redmond Venter, whom she saw as a surrogate father figure. Following "the old man"'s death Ragna swiftly transferred her loyalty to Simon-G294, Venter's adopted successor.
:Ragna Aasen: "How did they get you? The oonskies, I mean."
:Andra-D054: "No one 'got' me. I volunteered."
:Ragna Aasen: "And your Spartan augs. Did they cut out, you know, your woman bits?"
:Andra-D054: "You don't know what you're talking about."
:Ragna Aasen: "I know you could snap my neck with one hand."
:Andra-D054: "But here you are, trying to make me mad."
:Ragna Aasen: "I'm not trying to make you mad, lieutenant. What about boy Spartans? Like the commander. Did they cut off his—"
:Andra-D054: "We are not having this conversation."
:—Ragna Aasen and Andra-D054 during the Battle of Archangel's Rest.
Service in the Kru'desh Legion exposed Ragna to the wider galaxy of species, ideologies, and experiences, including an unlikely friendship with the Spartan Andra-D054. Ragna's identity as a so-called "legionnaire" awakened in her a newfound desire for adventure and yearning to experience more of the galaxy. This new outlook slowly turned Ragna away from her youthful fanaticism and towards a more balanced understanding of her own hopes and dreams. Later in life Ragna came to regret her role in the Second Vanguard's brutal campaigns. Her distaste for the war crimes apologism common in rebel circles alienated her from later incarnations of the colonial secession movement. Ragna also disliked efforts to mythologize Redmond Venter, Simon-G294, and the Kru'desh Legion's exploits for propaganda purposes. Outside of her continued service to the Kru'desh enclave on Furthest Point she avoided future adventurism against the United Earth Government. Ragna's efforts to track down her birth parents ended in failure, though she eventually found solace in the family she began on Furthest Point.
==Equipment==
Ragna's training and service in the Second Vanguard familiarized her with a wide range of . A skilled markswoman with a keen eye, Ragna was employed as a sharpshooter on many occasions including several assassinations. Ragna often employed an F26 "Century Twist" hunting rifle she inherited from Jens Aasen. During her service as a Kru'desh legionnaire Ragna was trained to operate the . As a forerunner to the legion's extensive use of Cyclopes as combat support and shock tactic weapons, Ragna grew intimately familiar with the Cyclops's operations and maintenance. Her own battle-weathered machine saw extensive combat during the Created Crisis and later conflicts. Ragna and Kru'desh technicians modified the machine well past its factory specifications; her beloved custom model was still in service long after the Kru'desh had phased out most Mark III exoskeletons in favor of more advanced design patterns.
==Behind the Scenes==
===Literary Appearances===
*Halo: Those Who Walk In Darkness (First appearance)
*Halo: Heaven and Earth
*Halo: Kill House
*A Serious Man (Weekly short fiction)