Baranya Brokenrock-Hawall

## General Baranya Brockenrock-Hawall (ret.), the Arsenal Knight of Ithaca

* Book Two
* Book One
* Kestrel
* Perfect

### Theme Song

Book 1 theme - Man With A Mission - Change the WorldInsert Theme 1 - Man With A Mission - Fly Again

Book 2 theme - RIDER CHIPS - Shiny Days

Insert Theme 2 (Perfect Kestrel) - Masukura Yoshimasa - MAKUAKE

Book 3 theme - Naoto Fuuga - Believe Yourself

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> I am the shield that protects the innocent - and the sword that keeps the wicked at bay.
>
> -Baranya Hawall

> Let's see how you handle the pinnacle of Ithacan engineering!
>
> -Baranya's pre-transformaton catchphrase.

> GET READY! SET UP! KESTREL!
>
> -Devyn Arsenal System - transformation announcement

> Dust yourself off. You're done.
>
> -Baranya's post-finisher catchphrase.

General **Baranya Elena Brokenrock-Hawall** (ret.) is a martial artist from Catania, former head of **House Hawall**, and former knight of **House Devyn**. She was the Minister of Defense of the **Dominion of Ithaca** during the Brokenrock and Richardson Administrations, as well as the first term of the Koneko Administration. Driven by a desire to protect others and the personal responsibility to live up to her nature as an aasimar and a Chosen, she adventures under the alias of **Kestrel, the Arsenal Knight** (兵器廠騎士ケストレル; *Heikishō Kishi Kesutoreru*).

## Background

Born the daughter of a soldier and a merchant, Baranya was considered a completely normal girl, until the first time she suffered an injury and was discovered to have silvery blood. She was an aasimar - someone born with celestial blood in her veins. In her case, naturally, that was more than sentiment. But her powers didn't seem to extend much farther than her blood; as long as she wasn't cut, Baranya passed for human.

In her heart, however, Baranya knew she was different. This would be confirmed in her adolescence when, on a dare, she touched a Waystone, and discovered she was Chosen. From that point forward, Baranya explored every avenue of martial prowess and training, during which time she served in the Catania military. She spent an undisclosed amount of time training at a monastery eventually leaving after having a physical altercation with the abbot. Her study eventually led her to the doorstep of House Devyn, where she worked as a guard for Lord Cedrick Devyn's various interests.

Ultimately, it was her uncommon physiology and her status as a Chosen that led to her being chosen as the user of the **Devyn Arsenal System** - a unique magical item, worn as a belt around the waist, that can be used to transform into **Kestrel, the Arsenal Knight.** The transformation only lasts a few moments a day, but only because the power scope and output of the item is so vast. In exchange, Baranya reports on the belt's effectiveness in combat encounters to her superiors in the House, who feed the information forward, to drive further research.

During the first few years of her adventuring career, Baranya managed to run afoul of a good portion of the adventuring community due to her steadfast loyalty to the laws of Catania and disdain for the general adventuring community. She refused to identify as an adventurer, instead as a "knight of the realm engaging in freelance goodwill missions". As of late, she has dropped this attitude, accepting the Guild as a necessary force in frontier society.

During a battle against the skum in late Gozran, 1 AM (Age of Might), Baranya, as Kestrel, saved Duke **Eibon Lethain** from certain death at the hands of a skum suicide bomber. For her service to Duke Eibon and Catania, she was offered, and accepted, a knighthood in late Desnus, 1 AM.

At some point between late Arodus and early Rova, 1 AM, rumors (ultimately well-founded ones) began to surface that Baranya and Myandran smith **Ulysses Cassius-Brokenrock** had begun dating.

Upon fulfilling her military duties to the Catanian crown during the War of the Black Sea, Lady Sir Hawall resigned from the Catanian military. Shortly thereafter, she married Ulysses.

In 4 AM, Baranya was released from her oath of fealty to the Catanian Crown, in anticipation of her joining Ulysses' expedition to the New World. House Hawall, with no heir, was dissolved. She was one of the signatories who approved the Ithacan Charter of RIghts and Freedoms, and served as the first Minister of Defense.

In 5 AM, Baranya gave birth to a daughter, Theodora Brokenrock.

In 22 AM, during the midst of one of the Koneko Administration's many coffee-related scandals, Baranya resigned her post as Minister of Defense and retired from active duty in the Ithacan Republican Army. Though she may be retired from the military, she is still an avid ki cultivator and adventurer.

## Appearance

Baranya is a well-above-average physical specimen, possessing a defined physique and a few slight scars.

## Personality

Initially a tinge shy and standoffish, Baranya has evolved into a woman assured of her growth and capabilities. She once held a dim view of adventurers, though after years of contracting with the Guild and exposure to promising Chosen, this opinion has softened. The same can be said of her opinion of the Arsenal System; once terrified it could be seized by the enemies of her Lord, the Arsenal Knight is assured in her ability to defend the belt against those who would seek it for their own petty interests.

Several have noted that Baranya has an almost uncanny ability to appear without warning, precisely when her appearance would be most dramatic, despite possessing few magical abilities and little-to-no magical aptitude.

## Arsenal Knight Kestrel

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> Henshin!
>
> -Baranya's call when transforming into Kestrel

> Dai-henshin!
>
> -Baranya's call when transforming into a Perfect Style

Using the **Devyn Arsenal System** and **Kestrel StyleKey**, Baranya is able to become Kestrel for as long as the belt can maintain the transformation. Kestrel is connected to the **Brokenrock Infinite Arsenal Mk. II,** a system tied directly into Kestrel's adamantine-reinforced gauntlets. The gauntlets can transform into most hand-held weapons imaginable, allowing Kestrel to target physical weaknesses indiscriminately.

Baranya's main form is **Kestrel Style**, a balanced form that uses a sophisticated prediction dweomer called the **Infinite Probability Drive** to ensure Kestrel's attacks hit, and those of her enemies miss. Overuse of the Infinite Probably Drive taxes the belt, and continued abuse can cause premature transformation disengagement.

Baranya's first side-grade form is **Overwatch Style**, a speed-type form that pushes the body's reaction time to the limit. While in Overwatch Style, Kestrel's marksmanship and reflexes rivals the best non-Chosen snipers. For the extra edge, Overwatch Style can enter a state called **Clock Up**, where speed and accuracy shoots even higher, but with a caveat similar to Kestrel Style's Infinite Probability Drive.

Perhaps the most vital part of the Arsenal System is the **Devyn Kinetic Certain-Kill Reservoir**, wherein not only the act of active fighting, but the very state of the belt being on stores potential energy inside the armor. This energy can then be released through the use of the Kestrel StyleKey in either the Arsenal System, several of Baranya's personal weapons, or any weapon created by the Infinite Arsenal to perform a **finishing move** (必殺技; *hissatsu waza*). Turning the key multiple times (up to a total of three) can change the nature of the attack in minor, but critical ways.

Kestrel's ultimate upgrade takes the form of the **Perfect Booster**, an item whose origins are shrouded in mystery. Source are unclear if it was developed by Lord Devyn, Ulysses, Baranya, or another party; some less-than-reputable sources suggest that it was forged from Baranya's own angelic blood. Regardless of how it was made, it is compatible with the Arsenal Driver, its use allowing Kestrel to assume **Perfect Styles**, which further improves a given style's effectiveness and killing force, at the cost of running the belt dry in half the time.

As Kestrel's reputation and abilities begin bordering on the mythic, so too do those of the Arsenal System. Their power has fed on each other to such an extent that the belt has become sapient - the Arsenal System, typically answering to the moniker "**DAS**", has now become an equal partner in the legacy of the Arsenal Knight. In the event of Baranya being knocked unconscious while acting as Kestrel, DAS is capable of using **Independent Running Mode** to briefly hijack Baranya's body, using its own judgment on whether to press a fight or seek escape. Independent Running mode can only be active for twenty seconds, after which the transformation is immediately disengaged and both Baranya and DAS are rendered unresponsive for eight hours.

## Friends

* **Theodora "Dora" Brokenrock** (daughter; cohort)
* Ulysses Brokenrock-Hawall, First Prime Minister of Ithaca (husband)
* **Yuudai Shirota** (former butler; former cohort)
* Her family (late father Henrik, mother Elena, sister Pietra, brother Istvan, brother-in-law Juste)
* Janella Cooper / Vanguard, the Watchdog Knight (former cohort)
* Alderamina (former animal companion)
* The late **Kain Silverwind** (friend)
* Former Ithacan Minister of Intelligence **Alexandra La'ahad** (friend and occasional lover)
* The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Ithaca
* House Devyn (specifically Lord Cedrick Devyn and Lord Edwin Devyn)

## Enemies

* **Liana Fox**
* Helena Cassius
* Enemies of House Devyn
* ~~William Madalynn / Peregrine, the Dispatch Knight~~ Defeated; presumed dead.
* ~~The **Kingdom of the Black Sea** and their aboleth masters~~ Dead.
* ~~The syndicate of **Naraka**~~ **Dealt with**.
* Criminals, necromancers, and fiend-worshippers

## Aspirations

* To push the limits of her and the Arsenal System's capabilities, and come out the other side stronger
* To bring the world a little closer to true peace